The Gathering Storm
by packleader96
Summary: Relentlessly pursued by Shadow's force's, Twilight and her friends, along with the help of the Guardian's, now continue their journey, will they succeed, or fail. rated T for violence, language, and some sexuality.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: yes I'm back, with the third installment of the guardian series, let us see as twilight and her friends continue their journey.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any MLP characters; they belong to their respective owner's.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 1: The Mountains pass**

(Flashback) 7 years ago

It had been two days since Silver's father passed away, it was a sad day for the guardians, and they had lost one of their greatest leaders, it took some convincing, for Silver to finally agree to attend the funeral, and even then it was sad, Silver hadn't been himself, and after the funeral he immediately locked himself in his quarter's, and gave the guards order's to not let anypony in, and so it had been, for the first day after the funeral.

Everpony was saddened by the loss of their leader, but Silver was taking it the hardest, he refused to see anypony, even Sapphire. Silver sat quietly up in the rafters of his room, he always found peace and quiet up there, it was a place where he could escape, from his worries, and now he needed to, more than ever.

He sat there, deep in thought, he knew his uncle would be here soon, and try to convince him to come out, luckily his thoughts were correct, when he heard three voices coming from outside, one of them sounded like his uncle.

Suddenly the door, opened lightly, to reveal none other than Sky Breeze, cautiously walking into the room, looking for him, "Silver, I know you are here, come out we need to talk" he heard him say, at first Silver didn't reply, but he knew he couldn't hide from him for long.

"Yes, what do you want uncle" Silver said, from above, and when he did, he regretted it. "Silver come down from there, I need to talk to you" his uncle said looking up into the rafters, at first he got no response, but then suddenly he saw a bright flash, appear in front of him, and when he looked over he saw, a very depressed Silver.

"I already know why you are here" Silver said, turning away from him, and walking to the other side of the room, he heard his uncle sigh, "Silver, this has got to stop, you haven't let anypony in to see you, not even Sapphire, your own fiancée" he said, as approached his nephew.

Silver sighed, heavily, and turned to face him, "Silver, let's be serious, we are all sadden by your father's passing, but your acting like a foal, look your father was my closest friend, before he died, he told me that it is your time, to take his place" he said with a serious face.

Silver again, just sighed, but didn't turn around, "you know that the council will not let me become Grand Master yet, because I'm too young" Silver said, still not turning to face his uncle, "yes in know, your father died, before he could officially pass the title to you, but it doesn't matter, you must take his place, the council can't stop you, from taking what's rightfully yours, becoming Grand Master is your birth right" he said stepping up to him and putting a hoof on his shoulder.

Silver sighed again, and brushed it off, "why don't you do it, you're a wise leader, just like father" Silver said turning to him, Sky Breeze shook his head, and looked Silver in the eyes, "because, I am not your blood relative, If I were to become Grand Master, it would break the chain, you must take up leadership, just as your ancestors have before you" he said, turning away.

Silver breathed in deeply, and looked at the ground, "what if I'm not ready, to become Grand Master, what if I mess up" Silver said sadly, Sky Breeze sighed and turned to face him, "Silver listen to me, your father believed in you, we all do, this is what he would want for you, I know it's a heavy burden, but you must do it, I have watched you grow up, into the strong stallion you are today, and I have never seen a more capable unicorn then yourself" he said putting a hoof on Silver's shoulder.

Silver looked up at him, a single tear in his eye, he saw the warm smile on his uncle's face, he couldn't help but smile, he wrapped his hooves around his uncle's neck, "thank you uncle" Silver said, before he made his way to the door, Sky Breeze watched with a smile, as he watched his nephew, walked out of the room.

(End flashback)

Silver opened his eyes, and found himself, inside his tent, back at camp, the night before, they had arrived at the base of the mountains, and made camp, for the night, they were less than day from the next shrine.

Silver sat up straight in bed, looking around, he looked over to the other half of the bed, and saw his wife, sleeping peacefully, wrapped in the blanket, the sight of her, always calmed him down, he smiled to himself, and slowly got out of bed, he walked over to the opening of the tent, and poked his head outside, he looked up into the sky.

There was a faint hint of light on the horizon, he returned inside his tent, he felt as if he couldn't fall back asleep, so he just walked over to his desk, and turned the lamp on, with his magic.

He brought out the old photo album, and began flipping through the pages, slowly going through the pictures, from when he was young, all the way to the day Comet was born, half way through the book, he noticed a familiar picture, of the day he became Grand Master, it was one of the most memorable days of his life.

(Flashback) 7 years ago

After his private talk, with his uncle, Silver finally agreed to go through with the ceremony, the one that would make him Grand Master, for the next day, the whole sanctuary was busy, preparing for the special occasion, Silver himself, was the very busy, overseeing preparations, and trying on the ceremonial robes, that was a part of the tradition.

Today was finally the day, the one that would change Silver's life forever. everpony, had gathered in the sanctuary's main hall, all dressed in their finest clothing, in celebration for the special day, the sadness from their previous loss, still lingered, but they would not let that ruin the day.

Suddenly the hall was filled with loud music, as they all turned and to the door, the guards used their magic to open the door, and Silver walked in, dressed in the traditional robes, which were worn by every Grand Master.

On the other side of the room, stood Sky Breeze, his Mother, and Sapphire, all smiling at him, as he came up the steps, despite the sad events that took place, only days before, Silver still had a smile on his face, as he stepped up in front of his uncle and his mother, holding the ceremonial necklace, that had been passed down in his family for generations, traditionally the current Grand Master, would present the necklace, to his successor, but now the duty was passed to his uncle.

When he was a mere few feet from his uncle, Silver stopped and gave him a respectful bow, Sky Breeze smiled as he turned to the crowd, "my friends, today we are gathered here, to witness the birth of a new era for the guardians, Silver Heart the time has come for you to carry on the tradition, that your family has done, for centuries" he said, loud enough for the entire room to hear.

After a minute of silence, Sky Breeze turned his attention back to the unicorn, in front of him, "Silver Heart, do you so solemnly swear, to protect the guardians, as our leader, just as your father did before you" he said looking down at him, with a serious face, Silver did not look up, "I swear" he said, still in a bowing position.

"Do you so solemnly swear, to lead the guardians, with wisdom and strength, just as those have before you" Sky Breeze said, still looking down at him, Silver still was in the bowing position, and did not look up, but he answered none the less, "I swear" he said, his voice growing louder.

"do you so solemnly swear, that when the time comes, you will fulfill our ancient oath" Sky Breeze continued, as he stared down, at the calm unicorn in front of him, Silver breathed in a heavy sigh, "I swear" he said almost shouting, Sky Breeze smiled, and turned to Silver's mother, who was holding a small box, that contained the ceremonial necklace.

She smiled and opened it, the shiny jewel in the middle, glimmered brightly as Sky Breeze gently removed it, and walked back to Silver, who was still in the bowing position, he quickly lifted it in the air, over Silver's head, and turned his attention to the ponies in the room, "long live Grand Master, Silver Heart" he said as he placed the pendant over Silver's neck, so that it dangled, after he did that, Silver rose from his bowing position, with a smile on his face.

He then turned to face the crowd of ponies behind him, "may the heavens watch over you" Sky Breeze said, as he walked in front of him, followed by his Mother ad Sapphire, Sky Breeze made the first move, by taking the first bow, Silver turned to his Mother and Sapphire, who both did the same.

He then looked at the crowd, who all started bowing, with respect, to their new leader, Silver looked on, despite the saddening events before, this made up for it, this was the day he has been looking forward to since, he was a young colt, and it was finally here.

(End flashback)

Silver smiled, as he remembered that day, and the other's after that, less than a week after the ceremony, was the wedding ceremony of Sapphire and Silver, who had decided to have their wedding day, shortly after.

Silver was brought from his thought, when he heard the rustling of bed sheets, on the other side of the tent, he looked over and saw Sapphire crawling out of bed, with a messy mane, she saw him and smiled, "hey, what are you doing up?" she asked, with a sleepy voice.

Silver was confused by what she meant, when he got up and looked out the entrance, and saw the sun, was higher in the sky, and there was more activity in the camp, he realized he had been looking in the book, for over an hour.

After they officially got ready, for the day, they stepped outside, and breathed in the fresh air, the mountains, created a large shadow, which had covered most of the camp, they began their daily walk around, the camp, to make sure everything was safe and sound.

When they reached the center of camp, they saw Comet, talking with Sky Breeze, at the breakfast table, so they decided to join them, "good morning uncle, good morning Comet" Silver said, as they took their seats across, from them, they smiled as they ate their food, "morning dad, morning mom" Comet said, after swallowing another forkful of his meal.

Shortly after that, they heard some familiar voices from behind, when they turned around, they saw two familiar unicorns, still with sleepy looks in their eyes, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself, "well good morning you two, rough night" he said, with a raised brow, when they heard that, they looked at each other and blushed heavily, "oh no, it's just that we aren't quite used to waking up this early yet" Flame said as he walked up to them, and they took their seats.

"so what is our plan for today" Twilight said with a sarcastic smile, as a soldier appeared with a plate of food, and dropped in front of them, and they immediately started eating, Silver laughed, and looked at them, "well, we are less than a day away from the shrine of honesty, aside from that, nothing" he said, as he took another bite of his food.

As they ate slowly but surely, all of Twilight's friends came one by one, to get their breakfast, they sat there eating for another ten minutes, soon after they were all done eating, and were just sitting there talking, suddenly Silver levitated his watch in front of him, his eyes widened as he put it away, and got up, catching all their attention.

"Okay, we need to get moving soon, eat your breakfast, and get ready to travel, we leave in one hour" he said before, he walked off, again followed by, his wife, and soon they all went their separate ways, and returned to their tents.

(Later…)

After about an hour, the camp was again fully packed up, and they were ready to move, all the tents and supplies, had been packed into the wagons, and everpony was ready to move, Silver came out in front of everypony, and cleared his throat, catching their attention.

"Alright listen up, when we enter the mountain pass, the terrain gets really harsh, so everypony stick together, the mountains can get very dangerous, so stay together, nopony gets left behind, nopony goes ahead, does everypony understand" he said, he was received multiple nods, telling him that they acknowledged his warning, "okay, everypony move out" he said, as he turned and walked forward, they all slowly moved forward, under the shadows of the mountain's, they had a long journey ahead of them.

**A/N: well that was the first chapter of part 3, don't, worry it's gets more interesting.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: well here's the next chapter, this is where it really gets interesting.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 2: the pursuit begins**

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

Shadow Blaze, sat on his throne, with his eyes closed, lost deep in thought, he could feel the growing power of the elements, and he knew that the guardians were on their mission, it was time to stop them.

Suddenly he doors, on the other side of the room, flew open and in walked Night Wing, he walked in calmly, until he reached the edge of the steps, he then took a respectful bow, "Master Shadow Blaze, you summoned me, is something wrong?" he asked, with his head to the ground.

Shadow opened his eyes and looked down at his apprentice, "I can feel them, the elements grow more powerful, when they have completed their task, they will be encouraged to challenge me, I have no interest in being challenged" Shadow said, as he got up and walked down the steps towards Night Wing, who was still in his bowing position.

"But you have no reason to fear them, master, they are weak" Night Wing said getting up from his position, and standing still, Shadow had stopped in front of him, "you are an excellent apprentice Night Wing, but you forget, they defeated us once, no doubt they will try it again" he said as he walked past him, and up to the window.

"I can promise you, that they will never get the chance, they will eventually get caught, and then we can kill them" Night Wing said turning to his master, when he heard that, he sighed and looked out the window, "no, they will keep on this quest, do you know why, Night Wing?" Shadow asked, turning his head around, when he got no answer, he continued.

"it's because they have hope, it's what drives them, to go to such lengths" he said as he turned around, Night Wing still remained quiet, Shadow slowly started walking towards him, "so the task fall's upon you, to destroy their hope, without it, they will be nothing" he said, now standing directly in front of Night Wing, sweat slowly started to roll down Night Wings face, Shadow leaned down, looked Night Wing directly in the eyes.

"gather my army and follow them, leave nopony alive" he said as he got back up, and walked away, Night Wing bowed, understanding his order's, but he still had something to say, "I understand master, but I have some news for you" Night Wing said, hoping it would please Shadow.

This caught his attention, as he again turned around and walked towards Night Wing, "what might that be?" Shadow asked, now curious, Night Wing smiled, up at him. "Earlier, I ran into two ponies, who said they could be of assistance to our little problem" Night Wing said with confidence.

Shadow smiled, "very well, bring them in, I shall see for myself" Shadow said as he turned around, Night Wing turned to the guards at the door, and motioned for them to open them.

The guards used their magic, to open it, and in walked more guards, forming a circle, inside the circle, were two ponies, as soon as they reached the middle of the room, the guards broke the circle, revealing two ponies, revealing a tall alicorn, with a golden coat, and a platinum mane and tail, next to him was a smaller unicorn, with a grey coat, and a crimson mane and tail, with an orange streak through it.

At first they looked around, as if they didn't know where they were, after that, they walked up slowly, to the large alicorn, in front of them, they turned to the pony next to them, which turned out to be Night Wing, he gestured for them to bow, they looked from the Pegasus to the alicorn, and they hesitantly bowed.

After they did, Shadow breathed in a long, deep breath, and opened his eyes, "so, you claim, you can be of service" Shadow said, as he stared out the window, the larger pony spoke first, "yes, we can be of great service, I am known as the Prophet, and this is my apprentice Rage, we have come to join you, lord Shadow Blaze, it would be the greatest honor, to serve under you" he said, still bowing, Night Wing gave a suspicious glance, and then looked back to his master.

After Shadow Blaze heard this, he turned around to get a better look, at these new ponies, he walked up to them, "hmm, you say you can help, and how do you plan on doing that?" Shadow asked, looking them up and down, the Prophet lifted his head up, and looked up at the taller alicorn.

"we know you are having trouble, locating a specific group of ponies, we can help you find them" the Prophet said, while his apprentice, assumed his previous position, Shadow smiled at this, and looked back down at him, "oh, and how do you plan on doing that" he said, now it was the Prophet's turn to smile.

"There is a group of mercenaries, known as the wolf pack; they have strong connections, to one of the member's in this group of yours, if you can track them down, you can find your runaway group, and stop them before they complete their task" the Prophet said, with a smile.

Shadow Blaze looked up, and turned around, and walked away, deep in thought, after a few minutes of this, he stopped and turned his attention, back to the three ponies in the middle of the room, he smiled as he turned his attention to Night Wing, "you know what to do" he said, Night Wing nodded and bowed, and he walked off, followed by the guards, the Prophet and Rage, were confused by this.

"Wait, we told you this information, we demand to be put on this assignment" the Prophet said almost yelling, Shadow Blaze turned to him, sharply and shot him a look, that made his blood run cold, "no, my apprentice will handle this, you shall stay here, and give me any other information you might have,…hmm, Night Wing was right, you are useful, besides I have a bigger job for you two" he said with a sinister smile.

**A/N: wow, that was certainly interesting, well, see you next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: yeah, the next chapter is up, so…enjoy.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 3: the shrine of honesty**

After a whole day of traveling through the perilous mountains, the guardians, finally settled in a small canyon, with the tall mountains, surrounding them on all sides, by this time the sun was beginning to set, but with the mountains blocking out the rays of light, the camp fell under a shadow, as the sun disappeared.

After camp was again set up for the night, they began to settle down, Twilight and Flame, along with Shining Armor and Cadence, were talking with their friends, they all sat In the middle of camp, talking amongst them, until Silver and Sapphire walked up, and interrupted.

Silver cleared his throat, catching their attention, they all turned to him, and saw the serious look in his eyes, "Miss Applejack, it's time, if you and your friends will follow me" he said as he turned and walked, as they approached the edge of camp, they saw Sky Breeze, standing there waiting.

"uncle, you're in charge of camp, until we get back" he said as he turned to him, Sky Breeze nodded, "yes my lord" he said, before he walked off, back into camp, Silver again turned to them, with a stern look, "now, be careful, the path is dangerous, we are taking that path there" he said, turning to the path before them, in front of them, laid the path, a very thin path, that lead up into the mountain, they all looked at each other, nervously before they began to follow Silver, up the path.

(Later…)

After an hour, of traveling along the winding trail, the finally arrived in a small clearing.

When they stopped, Silver brought the map in front of him again, and observed it, he looked up with a smile, as he rolled it up with his magic, and put in his bag, "no wonder, these places are hidden, who in the right mind, would go through all of that" Twilight said, looking around the clearing.

Silver turned and smiled, "I've told you before, the shrines were not meant to be found on accident" he said, before he turned to the surface of the wall, and walked up to it, he stopped and ran his hoof across the rocky surface.

He smiled, as he found an oddly shaped rock, one that looked like it didn't belong there, he slowly pushed it in, luckily for him, it slid in, and made a loud clicking noise, like a key unlocking an old door, suddenly the rock next to it, shook and moved to the side.

After it did a large rush of wind, greeted them they all looked around nervously, "what was that?" Flame asked, looking around nervously, "well, this cave hasn't been opened in centuries, it's going to be very dusty and dirty" he said as the tip of his horn glowed, creating a small light, as they all slowly entered the cave.

At first they saw nothing more than cob webs and dust, but they continued walking none the less, that is until the, Silver stopped them, with his hoof, at first they were confused and looked ahead of him, and saw nothing there, "why are we stopping, there's nothing there" Twilight asked, trying to push her way up to him, he didn't answer her question.

Silver looked down below him, and saw a small pebble, he looked forward again, with a surprised look, and looked back down at the pebble, using his right hoof, he flicked it in front of them, into the middle of the hall, they stared at it, and nothing happened.

But then, suddenly the ground shook, and the floor in front of them, caved in, and sunk into a deep hole, that seemed to go on forever, Silver just leaned down, into it.

"Wow, that I didn't expect" he said, before he looked up at the other side of the hole, he soon realized, that it wasn't more than a few feet away, he slowly backed up, and turned to Sapphire, who had a worried look on her face.

He just gave her a reassuring smile, and turned his attention back to the task before him, he breathed in heavily and he stared straight ahead, suddenly he launched forward at top speed, and just as he was a few inched from the edge, he launched in the air.

Time seemed to slow, as he flew from one side to the other, shortly after he jumped he landed, safely on the other side, he rolled to a stop, and turned his attention back to the other's, some of them had shocked faces, other's like Sapphire and Comet, remained calm.

He smiled and laughed, as he turned back to them, "well, you waiting for an invitation" he said as he waited for all of them to jump, and one by one, they all jumped across with ease, and soon all the other's had jumped and or flown across the gap, and they continued deeper into the cave.

After another five minutes of walking, they noticed the cave become wider, and spread out more. Soon the path was big enough to fit all of them, and they found themselves standing in the middle of a large room, as they looked around, the heard the sound of fire being lit, and they looked to the end of the room, and saw the torches slowly lighting themselves, all the way to the other side of the room.

After it was fully lit, they turned to the other side, and before them stood a large statue, they all walked up to it, and tried to get a better look at it, but the statue had been worn with age, what they could tell was that it was the statue of a male earth pony, standing in a proud position, with a necklace draped around his neck.

Silver smiled as he turned to Applejack, who was looking at the statue in awe, she looked at him, with a nervous glance, he smiled as he gestured for her too approach it, she looked from Silver too the statue, and swallowed nervously, and slowly made her way too it, while all the other ponies, backed away.

When she was a few feet in front of it, she gave the most respectful bow, she could do. At first nothing happened, and Applejack began to fear she had done something wrong, until a loud voice filled the room, _"speak your name and intentions, or leave"_ came a booming voice, this time they weren't as scared because they had heard it before.

Applejack again swallowed nervously, but spoke clearly, "my name is Applejack, I am the element of honesty, I have come to learn in the ways of harmony" she said, still looking down in her bowing position.

At first nothing happened, but then the room began to shake violently, almost throwing them off their hooves, but this time they were more prepared, and held their ground.

shortly after the room was filled with a bright light, that caused them all to shield their eyes, and look away, and just as quickly as it came, it stopped along with the shaking, and when they looked, back to the statue, and saw no trace of Applejack, at first they began to panic, but remembered what Silver said, and relaxed, all they could do now was wait.

(Unknown location)

Applejack found herself, wondering through a wide open empty white space, she tried to find any signs of life, but was unsuccessful, so far.

She continued to search, until she finally got her answer, "don't worry, Miss Applejack, you are not alone" came a voice from behind, she quickly turned around, and saw an older stallion, approaching her, a kind smile on his face, she became suspicious of this stallion as he came closer and closer, and eventually walked past her.

"Who are you?" she asked, he chuckled and turned to her, "my name is Starflash, and as you have probably guessed, I am the original element of honesty, your predecessor" he sat as he sat down, calmly.

Applejack calmed down, and sat down in front of him, "okay then, can you teach me, how to you use the element" she asked, looking him over, he smiled, and looked her over. "of course I can, but you must be willing to learn, honesty is a complicated element, only those who are not afraid to tell the truth, even if it means, hurting your friends and family, if you truly believe you are ready, then I shall teach you, what I know, but you must be smart enough to use this knowledge when the time comes, and for the right reason" he said as he glared at her.

Applejack swallowed nervously again, and looked down, unsure of herself, until he spoke up again, "self-doubt is the first step to one's downfall" he said, as he looked at her, she sighed heavily, and looked up at him, "yes, ah am ready to learn, please teach me" she said, taking another respectful bow in front of him, he smiled and looked down at her, "very well, let your lessons begin" he said with a smile.

(Entrance to the shrine)

Silver and his friends waited outside the shrine, as Twilight and all her friends came walking out, Silver noticed a worried look in Twilight eyes, "don't worry, she will be fine" he said with a comforting smile, even though he tried to cheer her up, she still felt scared for her friend.

Suddenly before he could speak again, four guards came from around the corner, confused looks on their faces, they were obviously looking for them, Silver smiled when he saw them, "okay everpony, let's head back to camp, these guards will wait outside the shrine for your friend" he said as he gestured for them to follow him, when they walked past, he turned back to the guards, who had straight faces, as they took their places at the entrance.

"you know your order's, if any activity happens, you contact me or Sky Breeze, is that understood" he said looking at each and every one of them, they saluted and shouted, "sir, yes sir!" before turning to their posts, and taking their positions, Silver smiled and turned back, and led the group back to the camp.

**A/N: well that is probably the longest chapter for this story so far, but I'm sure, the next one will be longer, tune in next time, for a very special surprise.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: well here we go, and yes for those who have read Eddie201's story "the wolf pack chronicles" you are all in for a big surprise.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 4: old friends, new allies**

The next morning after, the group went searching for the shrine of honesty, and returned, Applejack still hadn't come back, and her friends grew more and more worried, but Silver kept on reassuring them, that she was fine, and would return soon.

It was a bright day, and the afternoon sun, was still hanging in the air, casting a shadow over the camp, as the mountains stood in its path, and Comet was on the edge of camp, making his daily rounds, even as son of the Grand Master, he still had his job to follow, even though it was hard work, he didn't mind, he was used to his life.

As he paced back in fourth on the edge of camp, it was his duty to keep an eye out for any strange activity, that might be a threat, but so far he didn't see anything.

He walked back and forth, with a calm stride, every now and again, he would look out at the mountains, to make sure, there wasn't anything out there, and every time he looked he saw nothing, until as he was walking, some strange thing caught his eye, he quickly turned to see what it was, but saw nothing.

He turned his attention away from camp, and used his magic to levitate his pair of binoculars up to his eyes, and scanned the side of the valley, at first he saw nothing, until he noticed very faint shadows moving along side of the valley, dodging behind rocks, and trying to avoid being spotted, at first Comet though it was his imagination, but then he caught a quick glimpse, he saw a full body of a pony, he couldn't make out any features, but he knew it was real.

He was about to go run and find his mom and dad, but he didn't have too, he suddenly heard multiple sets of hooves coming up from behind him, he put the binoculars down, and turned around, he saw his mom and dad walking up to him, followed by Twilight, Flame, Shining Armor, and Cadence.

"dad, I think we are being followed" he said handing the binoculars over to him, Silver took them and used his magic to look through them, he didn't see anything, but he knew Comet was telling the truth, he put them down, and sighed, "hmm, they have been following us, since we left the forest" Silver said, as he observed the valley walls, looking for the strange ponies, that were following them.

"Any idea, who they might be?" Shining Armor asked, looking at everpony, hoping one of them knew, he heard Silver sigh, and turn around, just in time to see Sky Breeze walking up, "I don't know, but we better find out who they are, and what they want" he said, as he walked up to his uncle, "uncle, you're in charge while I'm gone, Sapphire you stay with him" he said turning to his wife, she was about to protest but decided not to.

"Okay, just be careful" she said as she threw her hooves around his neck, he hugged her back, and then let go, and looked her in the eyes, "don't worry about me, I always am" he said with a small chuckle, before he turned back to the rest of them.

"okay, Shining Armor, Flame, Comet your with me, let's go" he said as they began walking, but were interrupted from behind, "wait, let us come with you" Twilight said from behind, they turned around and saw Twilight and Cadence walking up to them.

Silver frowned, "no, you two must stay here, it's too dangerous, we don't know if they are friendly or hostile, and besides, you should stay and wait for your friend to return" Silver said trying to convince her, but before she could answer, suddenly the rest of her friends, came up, "no, you go Twilight, we will stay and wait for Applejack" Rainbow Dash said, with a smile as they all took off for the camp.

Silver sighed and looked back at them, "okay fine, but stay close" he said, as Twilight and Cadence both walked up to their husband's, content smiles on their faces.

After, they reached the outer part of the valley; they still found no trace of their pursuer's, until they came to the spot where, they had spotted them from a distance, as they walked on, suddenly Silver raised up his hoof, stopping all of them.

He looked around, with a careful eye, "well, whoever they are, they are definitely good at covering their tracks, we should split up, Twilight ,Flame, you go that way" he said gesturing to the left, "Shining Armor, Cadence, go the other way" he said gesturing to the right, "Comet your with me, we'll check this area out, and if you hear or see anything contact us, through this" he said, as he tossed a small headset to Flame and Shining Armor.

They both put in their ears, and tuned them to the right channel, and went their separate ways, Twilight and Flame were rounding a large rock, still trying to search for the strange follower's, but had no success yet, "do you think they might be friendly?" Twilight ask, looking up at Flame, flame sighed, but kept looking around, "well, if they were, then why would they be hiding" he said scanning the area.

When they came into a very small clearing, the only thing they saw were more rocks, Flame looked over the area, and turned to Twilight, "hold on, stay here" he said as he slowly walked forward, Twilight tried to stop him, but he was already in the middle of the clearing.

He looked around him, he had a feeling they weren't the only one's there, he felt as if they were being watched, deciding to go back to Twilight, he slowly turned around, and began making his way back to her, when he was about half way back, he suddenly heard the sound of small rocks being crushed under the weight of somepony's hooves, he quickly turned around, with his knife at the ready, he saw nothing behind him.

Still suspicious. He turned back to Twilight, who was still standing next to the rock; he took two steps, and was suddenly pushed to the side, by a great force, he slide across the ground, on his back, the only thing he heard was Twilight crying out in surprise and fear.

He tried to get up, but felt a heavy weight, on his hooves, he looked up and found himself staring into the eyes of some masked pony, the only thing he could see were his eyes, and they looked angry, he tried to break free, but the pony on top of him, had a very strong grip.

Suddenly he heard the pony above him chuckle, "you're getting soft Flame, I guess you lost your touch" said a vaguely familiar voice, one that Flame hadn't heard in a long time, the pony let up on his grip, Flame took this opportunity and punched the pony in the gut, not hard enough to cause any real damage, but enough to shake him off, and with one quick move, Flame flipped them over so he was on top, he unsheathed his knife, and brought it close to the masked pony's neck.

He breathed in heavily, as the pony beneath him, shook off his surprise and smiled, "then again, maybe not" he said, Flame narrowed his eyes, and looked into the other pony's eyes, suddenly Flame himself, smiled and burst out laughing, much to Twilight's total confusion.

"oh, it's good to see you too, Dark Star" Flame said, as he got up, and sheathed his knife, he then turned to help the pony up, they turned to each other, and smiled, the masked one, reached up and removed his mask, revealing a pony with a midnight blue coat, and a pure black mane and tail, his eyes were blue, it was a face that Flame never thought he would see again.

They smiled at each other, and shook hooves, "long time, no see, friend" Dark Star said, to Flame, as he shook his hoof, "yeah, it's been quite some time" Flame, said too his old friend.

They then turned to the other pony in their presence, as if they completely forgot about her, Twilight on the other hoof, had a completely dumbfounded look on her face, much to their amusement, they turned and walked over to her, "Twilight, this is Dark Star, an old friend of mine, Dark Star, this is my wife Twilight Sparkle" Flame said, with a smile.

Twilight shook off, her shock, and eyes this new pony up and down, the first thing she noticed was that he was a Pegasus, as soon as Flame said wife, Dark Star's eyes grew wide, and his mouth dropped, much too Flame's amusement, Flame laughed, and Dark Star turned to him, "well Flame, I never thought you would be one to marry" Dark Star said still half shocked.

"Yeah well, you could say a lot of stuff happened, since the last time we spoke to each other" Flame said, as he put a hoof around Twilight's shoulder's, Dark Star smiled, and turned to Twilight, who had a suspicious look on her face, "either way, it's an honor to meet you" he said bending down, and taking her hoof in his and lightly kissing it, much too her embarrassment.

"wait, Flame you never told me that you knew him" Twilight said in disbelief, as she looked up at him, Flame smiled nervously, as he walked forward, "well, I've known Dark Star, for a while now, back when I was still a part of the guild, we were assigned a mission together, and we have been friends since, but we sort of lost contact over time, so you are the one that's been following us" Flame asked with a suspicious glance, Dark Star simply smiled.

"Well yeah, we heard you needed help, so we decided to come and find you" he said, with a grin, Flame didn't seem to care, he was just glad to see his old friend, suddenly he heard a loud ringing, in his ear, and realized it was the headset, he reached up, and pushed the button, "this is Flame, go ahead" he said into it.

"_Flame, glad you answered, did you find anything"_ he heard Silver say from the other end of the line, he looked up at Twilight and Dark Star, he thought for a minute and turned his attention back to the headset, "actually yes, I believe I found the solution to our little problem, meet us back, where we split up, I'll tell you when we get there" he said, before turning it off, and turning back to the other's, "well, Dark Star, if you want to help, you would have to take it up, with a friend of mine" Flame said, as he began walking, with Twilight quickly following, Dark Star, looked around, and quickly ran after them.

Flame and Dark Star, spent the walk, catching up, with Twilight in the back with an annoyed glare, they finally rounded the rock they did, after they split, and when they did, they saw Silver, Comet, Shining Armor, and Cadence.

As they came up to them, Silver finally noticed their third party member, he immediately went for his knife, to protect the other's but was stopped by Flame, "wait Silver, before we start hacking at each other, let me explain" Flame said, trying to calm Silver down, luckily it worked and Silver sheathed his knife.

"everpony, this is Dark Star, he's an old friend of mine, he doesn't mean us any harm" he said, to all of them, but more specifically to Silver, who looked like he was about to pounce on him, Silver eyed Dark Star up and down, and finally calmed down, "so, you are the one following us, care to tell me why" Silver said, with a very suspicious glare, at this comment Dark Star smiled.

"Why should I answer too you?" Dark Star said, at this, Silver's expression became angry, as he stepped forward, "I am Silver Heart, Grand Master of the order of the guardians, so I will ask again, why are you following us, especially alone" Silver asked stepping forward, challenging him, Dark Star smiled and looked him in the eyes, clearly amused, "who ever said I was alone?" he said, with a smile, and after he did, he brought his hoof up to his mouth, and whistled, the sound echoed off the walls of the valley, and at first nothing happened, then Flame and Twilight backed up, the area was covered in a bright flash, causing all of them, expect Dark Star to cover their eyes, Dark Star himself had a smile on his face.

When it stopped, they saw a younger unicorn, about Comet's age, standing where the light appeared, her coat was light brown, and a purple mane and tail, with a dark shade of purple running through it, her eyes were light blue.

After her, they saw a shadow move above them, and land next to the unicorn, he had a hood on, so it was hard to describe him, after he landed he reached up and took his hood off, they saw that he was much older than the unicorn, revealing a pony with a black coat, and a lighter shade of black for his mane and tail, when he pushed his mane away from his eyes, it revealed one, was ghost white covered with a scare, and his other eye was fire red.

And finally another pony, jumped over the rock behind them, and landed next to the Pegasus, when they saw him, he had a white coat and a black mane and tail, he was taller and more muscular than the other two, he wore black robes, that covered his cutie mark, and they saw two scimitar sheaths on his back.

After that, all the ponies stared at them In awe, even Silver was surprised by their appearance, as they looked them over, Dark Star walked up with a smile on his face, "now allow me to introduce you to my friends" he said as he walked over to the younger unicorn, "this is Meadow Dawn, my half-sister, she is especially good at spells and enchantments" he said, as he looked at her, she smiled back at him.

He then walked past her, to the Pegasus, "this is Night Shadow, second in command, and my closest friend, he is particularly skilled in, flying, fighting, and archery" he said as he walked past him with a smile on his face.

Finally he walked up to the other unicorn, "this is Beltway, he has been around since our group was first formed, he is very good, at fighting and stealth" he said finally turning back to Silver, who still had a slightly suspicious look.

"we can be of assistance in your journey, we have our own food and shelter" Dark Star said, turning his attention to Silver, who seemed deep in thought, from what it looked like, he was about to say no, but Flame intervened, "Silver, they can help us, they won't be trouble, we could use some more on our side" Flame whispered into Silver's ear, it didn't seem like Silver was paying attention.

After at least a minute of thinking, Silver sighed and looked up at Dark Star, "very well, you can come with us, but if you cause any problems, I'll stop it right there" Silver said slowly, Dark Star, and his friends sighed happily.

Silver then turned to his son, "Comet, go back to camp, and tell your mother, that we have some…new guests" he said, Comet looked at his dad, and turned and walked away, but not before sneaking another look, at the beautiful unicorn, named Meadow Dawn.

Dark Star turned back to his friends, "Meadow, Beltway, you two return to camp, and pack everything up, we will meet up later" he said before he turned and left, followed by Night Shadow, it took a few minutes for Meadow to comprehend, she was too busy staring at the young handsome unicorn, that was also looking at her.

She turned and left followed by Beltway, they quickly vanished, in a bright flash, Dark Star and Night Shadow, then began to follow the other's to the camp site, it was going to be a long night.

**A/N: well, it told you it was worth it, well something tells me that Silver and Dark Star aren't going to get along, and there might be a small but of romance in there somewhere, well find out next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: well, I'm back with the next chapter, so enjoy.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 5: setting out**

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

Shadow Blaze was pacing back and forth slowly in the throne room, he felt a large concentration of growing energy coming from the elements, the stronger they got, the more determined he became to destroy them.

He lost his train of thought, when the large doors on the other end of the room opened, and in came some guards, escorting the two newest recruits to shadow's army in, when they came up to him, he stopped pacing and turned his attention back to him.

"What is the meaning of this, your guards come and wake us in the middle of the night, and drag us here" The Prophet said, with an angry glare, Shadow shot him a look that silenced him, The Prophet became quiet, as he watched Shadow Blaze.

"I called you here, because our problem has only grown worse, the elements have reached the second shrine, and are becoming more powerful as we speak, and the information you gave me, was not as accurate" Shadow said, turning away from him, this comment surprised The Prophet and Rage, "I don't understand, what do you mean?" The Prophet asked, clearly confused.

Shadow sighed, and turned back to him, when he was almost in front of him, the door on the other side of the room opened up again, and in walked Night Wing, with a hurried pace, when he came up to Shadow Blaze, he took a respectful bow.

"our enemy grows stronger, we need to stop them, we need to break them, starting with their leader, Grand Master Silver Heart" Shadow said, as he approached Night Wing, who was back in his previous position, he looked down at his apprentice with a serious look, one that only Night Wing understood, he leaned down into Night Wing's face, "you know what to do, find him and break him, give him no hope or reason to live, make him suffer, I want to see him beg for death" Shadow said, slowly.

Night Wing nodded, and bowed again, "I will not fail you master, I will break him down, until there is nothing left" he said before he turned around and left the throne room, with a sinister smile on his face, he knew what he had to do.

(Guardian's camp)

After their initial meeting, with Flame's longtime friend, they had all gathered in the middle of camp, after dinner Flame and Dark Star spent the time catching up, many thing's had happened in both of their lives, many sad, many happy.

As they sat there talking, Flame, had gotten rather curious, about asking Dark Star, he remembered the last time he saw them, he had two more members in his group, "hey Dark Star, what ever happened to the other's in your group, I could have sworn you had two more, oh yeah, what happened to Rose and Rage?" Flame, asked with a curious look, and after he did, Dark Star's smile immediately disappeared, and he looked up at the other's in his group, Night Shadow gave him a warning glance, he sighed sadly, and looked up at Flame.

"Rage… betrayed us, he had been leaking information about us to our enemy, and while we we're in the middle of a trip to the town of Tropalipia, we were attacked, and Rose was killed, after that I found out it was Rage, and so we banished him, but we knew that our location was revealed, we had no choice but to run, and so we have been on the move ever since, until we heard about you, so we decided to help" Dark Star said, while trying to suppress the single tear in his eye.

After he finished telling his story, Shining Armor was surprised and remembered the day; the town of Tropalipia was attacked, "so you are the ones I saw that day" Shining Armor said with a suspicious glance, at this Dark Star chuckled, "yeah, I was waiting to see if you recognized us, took longer than I expected though, you being captain of the royal guard and all" he said before he looked away.

After hearing about what happened, Flame himself had a sad look on his face, he knew what it was like to lose somepony close to you, "I'm sorry about Rose, Dark Star" he said trying to comfort his friend, Dark Star smiled, "thank you, but it was quite some time ago" he said before he decided to turn the tables.

"What about you Flame, I take it you aren't working with the guild anymore" he asked looking over at his friend, now it was Flame's turn to frown, he sighed and looked to Twilight, who had a calm face, "well, I found out that my 'master' was the one behind my family's death, and he used me like a pawn to do his bidding, I was assigned a mission that I couldn't do, and that was when I met Twilight and her friend's, we became close, in the following days, but I had to make the most difficult decision in my life, and I still regret my choice, but I knew I had to stop Skyfall, before he went too far, so I killed him, a part of me wishes' I didn't, but it was the right thing to do, and after that Twilight and I fell in love, and got married, not much to tell after that" he said, with a small smile.

At first Dark Star was speechless, but he understood what he meant, losing those close to you is hard, they all sat there in silence, while Twilight scooted up closer to Flame, and nuzzled him, which seemed to cheer him up, shortly after they decided to talk about a different subject.

(Other side of camp)

Comet was again, patrolling the edge of camp, he never got to finish his shift, due to their little problem, after they arrived back at camp, his dad immediately went to his tent, followed by his mom, his dad didn't look very happy.

As Comet paced back and forth, he had some trouble keeping his eyes open, he always hated doing his shifts at night, but he really had no choice, because he had to be especially watchful at night, the only light was coming from the camp; the rest of the valley lay in darkness.

The only thing he wished for was some company, while growing up, he never made time to make friends, he was either studying or training with his dad, his mom often commented that he was just like his dad, always training and studying.

Luckily his wish came true, as he heard somepony approach from behind, unfortunately he believed it was an intruder, and spun around quickly, and got his knife ready, much to his surprise, It was only Meadow Dawn, who had a shocked look on her face, he quickly realized his mistake and let go of his knife, blushing.

"oh sorry, I didn't know it was you" he said getting in a normal position, as he looked at her, she still had a shocked look on her face, but quickly shook it off, and smiled, "well, you seem to take your job a little too seriously, besides, what are you doing up anyway" she asked as she walked up to him.

His smiled disappeared, and he turned away from her, "it's my job to patrol the camp, you should leave, I need to stay focused" he said, turning his attention back to the darkness in front of him.

She smiled to herself, and walked up closer to him, "or maybe I could stay and keep you company" she said as she walked up next to him, he became more nervous by the second, "I-I-I'm fine by myself, thank you" he said trying not to concentrate on her.

"sorry, but you're stuck with me" she said with a smile, he sighed in defeat, "fine, but no talking" he said, trying to be firm, but it didn't work, she smiled in content, and leaned up against a rock, and watched him, a silence fell over the two, as Comet's concentration kept slipping, and turning to the young mare, next to him.

Meadow Dawn decided to break the silence, "so Comet, what's a young handsome unicorn like you, doing out here" she asked with a curious look on her face, Comet shot her a look, but it did no effect, "hey, just trying to start a conversation" she said with an innocent look on her face, Comet sighed, and turned to her.

"Well if you must know, I always travel with my dad, my sister was too young and decided not to come, one day I will become Grand Master, like my dad before me, and it's important that I know what to do in any situation" he said, with a serious face, one that Meadow found amusing, "must be hard, being cut off from the world most of your life, what is it you do, exactly?" she asked curiously, a part of Comet told him, to not answer the question, and to focus on the task he had, but the other told him what could go wrong, and so he made his choice.

"Actually no it's not, being treated like royalty, everpony bow's where ever we go, it's kind of enjoyable, my dad never believed in a higher class, he thinks of everpony as his family, from me, my sister and my mom, down to the newest recruits" he said with a smile on his face, he never talked this long with anypony, especially a girl, normally he would receive a simple greeting, but something about Meadow was different.

"well, your father sounds like a great pony" she said, with a hint of amazement in her voice, he smiled at this and continued, "yes he is, my dad has taught us everything he learned from his dad, before he died, we never got to see him, but my father always tells us stories of him, now as for what I do, I'm in charge of training the newest recruits, I teach them what my dad taught me, and they become the greatest fighter's in all of equestria" he said proudly.

Meadow Dawn smiled, as he went on about his life as a guardian, it simply amazed her, and in return she told him about her life, and so they talked for what seemed like hours, as they talked Comet completely forgot about his job, and was to focused on the beautiful mare in front of him.

(Silver's tent)

Silver watched, from a small cliff, from where is tent was set up, as his son and Meadow Dawn talked amongst themselves, as he did, he couldn't help but remember the day comet was born, it was the happiest day of his life, the day he became a father.

(Flashback) 7 years ago

Silver was talking with his uncle, about some private matter's, with him as Grand Master, as tradition went, the newest Grand Master was to meet with Princess Celestia herself, and the fact that his wife was pregnant, and due to give birth any day now, it only made him more nervous.

Suddenly they were interrupted by, one of the guards bursting into the room, shocking both of them; he walked up to them and took a bow, Silver had an irritated look on his face, "yes what is it guard, this better be important" he said looking down at the guard in front of him.

"It is important, my lord, your wife has gone into labor" he said, nervously, and when he did, Silver's eyes grew wide, without saying anything he ran past the guard, and out of the room, and straight to the hospital wing.

(Later…)

After receiving the news about his wife, Silver found himself pacing back and forth in the main room of the hospital wing, his nervousness growing every second, as bad thought's entered his mind, he pushed them out when he saw, the head doctor stepping out from the door's on the other side of the room, Silver immediately rushed up to him, with a worried look in his eyes.

"Doctor, please tell me, is my wife okay" he asked, getting up in his face, the doctor simply backed up, and cleared his throat, as Silver anxiously waited, then the doctor smiled.

"Lord Silver, congratulations, you're a father now, your wife has given birth to healthy young colt" the doctor said with a smile, Silver sighed with relief, the pounding in his chest, slowly calmed down, he turned back to the doctor, "can-can I see her?" he asked, the doctor smiled again, "of course, follow me" he said leading Silver past the door's.

As they walked through the halls, they came up to a door, nothing could be heard from the inside, the doctor motioned for him to open the door, and Silver pushed it open, he walked inside and slowly peeked around the corner, the first thing he saw was his wife, holding a bundle wrapped in sheets.

She looked up at him, with a huge smile on her face, "come and see your son" she said, Silver gulped nervously, and slowly made his way over to her, and when he arrived at the edge of the bed, he leaned in and looked at the bundle, inside lay a small baby unicorn, his eyes closed, at this point Silver's eyes welded up with tears of joy, as he looked at his son, "oh Sapphire, he's beautiful" he said, kissing her on the lips, she smiled and turned her attention back to the foal, "we still need to name him" she said with a smile, Silver returned that smile, "can I" he asked looking in her eyes, she smiled and nodded, and turned back down to him, "how about…Comet" he said looking from his newborn son, to his wife, she looked up at him, and back down to the foal, now asleep, and curled up against his mother's chest.

"That's a wonderful name, our little Comet" she said with a smile.

(End flashback)

Silver was brought from that happy memory, when he heard a pony walking up beside him, he turned and saw his wife, standing next to him, looking down at their son, and she smiled. "They make a cute couple" she said as she looked over to her husband, who smiled in return.

"Yes they do, it almost reminds me of us, when we were younger" he said turning to her, a smile still on both of their faces, "come on we need to sleep, tomorrow we make for the sanctuary" he said, as they both returned to the tent, for a good night's sleep.

**A/N: well, that was very interesting, I can see a small romance in there somewhere, but we will find out in the future, see you then.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: yes, I'm back, with another chapter, so I hope you all enjoy.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 6: the sanctuary**

(Silver's dream)

Silver found himself walking through the courtyard of one of the guardian's outpost's, but it wasn't as he thought, a horrible sight lay before him.

The courtyard was filled with the bodies of ponies everywhere, it seemed to be the aftermath of a huge battle, but for some reason, Silver couldn't remember anything, he didn't know how he got there, but he didn't care, as he walked among the bodies, he realized that they all had the guardians armor on, there was no sign of any other.

He couldn't recognize anypony, but he knew that they were his soldiers, and as if fate had a twisted sense of humor, it was raining, and flashes of lightning filled the dark sky, but suddenly Silver heard a familiar voice from behind, "Silver, help me" said the voice, as he turned around, what he saw, chilled him to the bone.

He saw his beloved wife, staggering towards him, clutching her side, his eyes widened, as she continued walking over to him, the sight before him, froze him in place, he didn't move, he only watched as she came closer.

As she got closer, she suddenly fell to her side, finally he came out of his shocked state, "oh no, Sapphire!" he yelled as he ran to her, and when he did, he kneeled down, and lifted her head, so he could look into her eyes, the only thing he saw were tears.

As they looked at each other, tears began to appear in Silver's eyes, "I'm sorry Silver" he heard her say, in a hushed tone, he looked over to where her hoof was covering, and slowly removed it, what he saw, made his blood run cold, he saw a knife wound on her side, that was heavily bleeding, he immediately put pressure on it, and looked back to her.

"no don't you do this, you'll be fine, I'm not going to let you die" he said as he tried to call out for help, but he received no answer, and he turned his attention back to her, who was breathing heavier now, and she turned to him, with half-lidded eyes.

"tell Comet and Blazing Star, that I love them" she said, as he took her hoof in his, and looked him in the eyes, they stayed there like that for a while, before Sapphire's eyes slowly began to close, until they had fully shut, at that point Silver's had lost it.

"Oh no!, don't you do this, I love you!, no please!" he pleaded as his voice cracked, he tried shaking her awake, but it didn't work, he knew deep down that it was pointless, but he didn't want to believe it, so he continued trying to bring her back, before he finally gave up a few minutes later, when he knew she was gone, he buried his head in her chest, and cried like a young colt.

He stayed like that for what seemed like hours, until he heard the rain stop, as well as any other noise, he lifted his head up to look around, but saw nothing, nothing but an empty black space, void of any and all life.

"Oh, such a pity" he heard a voice come from behind, followed by a laugh that sent a chill up his spine, he gently lay her body down and turned around, and saw a hooded figure staring at him, with a sinister grin, the hooded pony reached up, and took his hood off, revealing his face, it was then that Silver's sorrow, turned to anger.

"Night Wing" Silver said as he brought out his knife, and got in a fighting position, the figure merely chuckled, but remained calm, "it pointless you know, this is only a dream, but rest assured, this will happen, your beloved wife will die, and you will be helpless to stop it, just you wait, you will suffer" the figure said as he stood perfectly still.

Silver took this chance and lunged forward at him, when he was a few inched away, he felt nothing, and collided against the ground, he turned around and again drew his knife, but he saw no trace of Night Wing anywhere, he looked around frantically, but saw nothing, he was alone his wife dead, it was then that the sorrow became too much and he screamed out in anger and sadness.

(Reality)

Silver shot up straight in bed, sweating, and breathing heavily, he looked around the room he was in, he found that he was in his room, back at the sanctuary, the bed there was much larger than the ones they stayed in while traveling.

He felt movement next to him, and turned to see his wife, sleeping quietly next to him, her chest moving slowly up and down, he breathed out more slowly, as he calmed down, his wife was safe, not like in that terrible nightmare.

He slowly moved to get out of bed, without disturbing her, once he did he made his way to the balcony, and opened the doors, he slowly stepped outside, and walked to the end, and placed his front hooves on it and leaned over the edge.

Below him lay the courtyard of the sanctuary, the place he called home, just the day before Silver lead his convoy the final stretch between them and the sanctuary.

(Flashback) 1 day ago

As Silver and his group came to the top of a hill, there stood before them, another valley, much like the one they were in the day before, but it wasn't the landscape that caught their eye, it was the massive structure, it was a massive building that seemed to be carved into the mountain, when Twilight and her friends stepped up, and looked their mouths nearly dropped to the ground.

Silver was amused by this, and turned to them, "this is the Guardian's Sanctuary, it may not be much from here, just wait till you get inside" he said as he started walking along the path, down into the valley, followed by Twilight and her friends and the rest of the soldiers.

(Later…)

As they finished crossing the valley they began walking up the path that lead to the Sanctuary's entrance, and when they finally came to the top, the stared at a massive gate, in front of them, and as they approached they heard a bell ringing off in the distance, they ignored it until they were only feet away from the gate, and then it slowly started to open.

At first they were to shocked to notice the three ponies walking out from the gate with smiles on their faces, one that Silver and his family equally returned, and when Flame and Twilight refocused their attention to them, they noticed the pony in the middle, was an elderly unicorn, with a smile on her face, as she came up to Silver.

"Silver it's always great to see you, welcome home" she said, Silver smiled and wrapped his hooves around her neck, "it's good to be home, mother" he said as he let go, and soon she hugged both Sapphire and Comet, who equally returned it.

Silver then motioned for Twilight and her friends to come forward, and when they did, he turned back to his mother, "mother, allow me to introduce you to, Twilight Sparkle and her friends, they are the elements of harmony" he said with a smile, Silver's mother immediately, took a respectful bow, and then rose up again, "it is the greatest honor to meet you all face to face, welcome to the Guardian's Sanctuary, I hope my son, hasn't been to ruff on you, he takes his job rather serious" she said with a smile, one that Twilight and Flame couldn't help but return.

Silver gave his mother a look, but she merely laughed, and they talked amongst themselves, until they were again interrupted, "mom! Dad!" came a happy voice from behind them, Silver and Sapphire, turned around, and saw a younger unicorn running towards them, both their smile's grew wider, as the young mare ran towards them, and when she reached them, the young unicorn nearly tackled Silver to the ground.

He laughed as he looked up, at the smiling unicorn above him, "it's good to see you to, Blazing Star, but next time, I think a hug will suffice" he said as he pushed her off gently, he shrugged and wrapped her hooves around him, and then turned to Sapphire and did the same, "I missed you so much" she said nearly in tears, Silver and Sapphire could only smile back.

Suddenly another voice came from behind, "hey Blazing Star, what no hug for me" said a young male voice, the young unicorn let go of her parents, and looked over to see an older unicorn, waiting, she could only smile and run over to him, "Comet, I've missed you so much" she said, as she wrapped her hooves around his neck, he did the same, and smiled, "I've missed you as well, little sis" he said as they separated, and turned to their grandmother.

"Well, I'm sure you are all very tired from your journey, please come and relax" she said as they walked inside the gates, and when they did, Twilight and Flame, looked back as they large gate closed behind them, they looked at each other, and turned and followed the other's.

(End flashback)

Silver lost his train of thought, when he heard the balcony doors open behind him, and a set of hooves, walk up beside him, when he turned his head, he saw Sapphire looking at him, with a worried expression on her face, he sighed and turned back to the courtyard below.

"Silver, what's wrong, ever since we came back, you've been on edge, is something bothering you, come on tell me, I want to help" she said putting a hoof on his shoulder, at first he didn't answer, he knew deep down he couldn't lie to her, so he had to tell her.

"It was just another nightmare, the same one" he said turning to her, and looked into her eyes, "you, Comet, Blazing Star, and Sky Breeze, died in battle, and I was helpless to save you" he said looking away, avoiding her gaze, soon after he felt a hoof bring his face back in front of hers, she looked at him, and gently placed her lips on his, in an effort to make him feel better.

When they separated, she looked deep into his eyes, "it was only a dream, I'm fine, Comet's fine, everpony is fine, you can stop worrying" she said, and when she did, he smiled at her, and she did the same.

"you always have a way of making me feel better, and that's one of the many reasons why I love you" he said, and they hugged each other, and when they separated again, Sapphire smiled, "come on, it's time to start the day, let's go find Comet" she said as she walked away.

He smiled and quickly followed after her.

(Guardian's sanctuary, main training room)

Comet and Meadow Dawn were walking through the halls, of the sanctuary, when they arrived, Comet agreed to take Meadow on a grand tour, and right now, he was taking her to the training grounds, where he and his assistant would train the soldiers.

What made Meadow nervous, was whenever they passed by another pony, they would give a quick and respectful bow, who she assumed was meant for Comet, "doesn't it get a little weird, when everpony bows to you" she said looking over to him, he only smiled.

"Well, you get used to it after a while…oh look were here" he said as they turned and opened a large door, what they saw inside simply amazed Meadow.

Inside, they saw hundreds of ponies training, she was amazed, and she turned and looked at him, and saw the proud smile on his face, both were completely unaware of the stallion creeping up behind them.

"They all look older than you, and yet they listen to you" she said curiously, as she looked over to him, he looked back and smiled, "yeah well, my dad is the Grand Master, and I guess it's in their best interest not to make me mad,…and Flash I know you are behind us" he said, making the last part louder, his response was a disappointed groan, from behind.

When they turned around, they saw an earth pony, looking at them with a disappointed look, in his eyes; Comet saw this and merely laughed, causing the other pony to smile, and take a respectful bow, "Flash, you don't have to bow, it's not necessary" Comet said helping the other one up, "how is it, I can never catch you by surprise" Flash said, looking at him.

"That's because you're doing it wrong, even a deaf pony, could hear you coming" Comet said chuckling, at this point Flash had noticed the third pony, and turned to her, with a suspicious look, "who's she?" he said looking her up and down, with interest, Comet walked up next to her.

"Meadow Dawn this is Flash, he's my assistant, and my closest friend" Comet said smiling, Meadow Dawn, smiled, and extended her hoof out, "pleasure to meet you" she said, he simply smiled, and took her hoof and lightly kissed it, much to her embarrassment, "likewise" he said with a kind smile.

Then Comet came up, with a serious look on his face, "so how are the students doing?" he asked him, Flash simply smiled, "oh they great, they are doing much better" he said, suddenly they heard two more voices come from behind, "well good morning Comet, Flash, Miss Meadow" they turned around and saw Silver and Sapphire coming up from behind.

Comet smiled and walked up to them, "morning dad, and morning mom" he said as he hugged both of them, suddenly Silver spoke up, "so Comet, how is the training going" he asked, with a curious look, Comet smiled, "well, I'm teaching them everything you taught me and Blazing Star" he said proudly, Silver smiled, "yes I see, but even you, still have much to learn" he said.

Suddenly they were interrupted, by one of the guards, running up to them, "my lord…" he said, trying to catch his breath, Silver turned full to him, and spoke calmly, "catch your breath, calm down, and tell me, what it is?" Silver said with a serious look, after a few seconds, the guard's breathing slowed down, and he stood back up in a formal position, and took a deep breath, with Silver patiently waiting.

"my lord, the council has met in the grand hall, they request your presence, they say it's urgent" the guard said, now fully calmed down, at first Silver looked surprised, but then a frown appeared on his face, and he turned to Sapphire, who shared his expression, he sighed and turned around to Comet, "Comet, you stay here, show your friend around, I must speak with the council members" he said before he walked out of the room, followed by Sapphire.

(Canterlot castle, dungeon)

After they returned from their bombing campaign, Shadow ordered for the Princess's to be taken down to the dungeon; he occasionally came down to visit, but mostly to taunt them, and again it was time.

Celestia and Luna lay in the cell, their hooves chained to the floor, which limited their walking space, not that they needed to walk, the sorrow of watching her kingdom burn, had finally gotten to Celestia, from the time they had been put there, she hadn't moved, she just laid there, lost in thought, it was only when Luna spoke to her, that she listened.

"sister, we mustn't lose hope, I'm sure Twilight and her friends will find a way" Luna said trying to comfort her, but Celestia acted like she didn't hear her, Luna was about to speak again, but the large door that lead out of the dungeon, flew open, and in walked the very pony, that filled both their hearts with fear and anger.

"well, how are my favorite prisoners, doing this fine evening" Shadow said, as he walked in laughing, they were surprised to find Night Wing not following him, Celestia lifted her head, but neither, gave a look of anger or fear, she just stared at him, as he approached and opened the cell, and walked in, followed by some guards.

"What is it that you want?" Luna asked getting up, Shadow just smiled, "well, I came to tell you, that your student and her friends, have made it to the Guardian's Sanctuary, and have also discovered two of the six shrine's" he said as his smile, disappeared, this comment finally got Celestia's attention, but she still did not speak.

"but, I have found a solution, I have sent my apprentice, to take care of the situation" he said with a sinister smile, Luna stepped forward, with a defensive stance, "you're a monster, you talk of peace and justice, yet you are killing innocent ponies" she said, with a small hint of tears in his eyes.

Shadow saw this and chuckled, "yes well, as the saying goes, there is no victory without sacrifice, you of all ponies should know that, after all, how many ponies were killed in your war" he said, when he said that, Luna was taken aback, but she knew what he meant, "it wasn't our war, we did what was necessary to protect the kingdom, we didn't mean for so many lives to be lost…especially hers" she said looking up to him.

When she said the last part, his smile disappeared, he was momentarily stunned, but he looked down at her, with a serious look, "yes well, it doesn't matter now, you will still pay, for what you did to me…and her" he said as he turned away and made his way to the door, when he was almost there, another voice spoke up, "what has happened to you, you used to be a brave, wise, and noble pony, but you've changed, you let your anger and sorrow, turn you into the very thing you wanted to destroy" he heard Celestia say, from behind.

When she did, he stopped dead in his tracks, for a split second his expression, turned to a one full of sadness and regret, but it quickly vanished, and he turned his head, "that pony you once knew…is dead, he died after what you did to me" he said, with a hint of anger in his voice, yet Celestia continued.

"what would she do, if she saw you now, what would she see, the pony she fell in love with, or the monster you are now" she said, and that was her big mistake, suddenly Shadow disappeared and reappeared right in front of her, the look in his eyes, filled with rage.

"How dare you talk about her, her death was your fault, you could have stopped it, but you didn't, you let her die" he said slowly, as his face was only inches of her, they stared into each other's eyes, Celestia remained expressionless, she seemed to show no fear, much to Shadow's and Luna's surprise.

Suddenly Shadow backed up, with a different look on his face, he breathed in heavily, but still Celestia continued on, "yes, her death was my fault, and if it means anything now, we're sorry…I'm sorry" she said, with a pleading look in her eyes, this caught Shadow off guard, he looked in many directions, as if he was thinking about something.

He turned his attention back to them, he didn't show any anger, instead there was a hint of sorrow, and when he looked back to Celestia, the sorrow was quickly replaced by rage, as he charged forward, and knocked Celestia, up against the wall.

"Tia!" Luna cried out, as she tried to save her, but was stopped by two guards holding her, "hold her down!" Shadow said, as he turned back to Celestia, who was now struggling to breath, it didn't help, as Shadow lifted her higher up the wall, so her hooves were no longer, touching the floor, Luna could only look on in horror.

"as for you, I don't want your apology, it's far too late for that" he said, tightening his grip, Celestia couldn't breathe, her lungs were screaming for air, all she could do was look into his eyes, she saw the hate and anger inside.

"Oh, I could just break your neck right now, and all my troubles would be gone…but I want you alive, I want you to suffer like I did, all those years imprisoned, with nothing but the pain, years of planning, of how to avenge her death, and when I'm done, I will give this pathetic world, the ruler it deserves, mark my words celestia, it was your fault, may you never forget it, and you will pay" he said, with rage burning in his eyes, he then let her go.

She fell to the floor, breathing heavily, as Shadow turned away, and walked out of the room, with an angry look on his face, when he left the guards let Luna go, and she ran to her sister's side, "Tia, are you alright?" she asked as she helped her up, Celestia finally got control of her breathing, as she got up, and looked down at her younger sister, "yes I'm fine" she said, but deep done she really wasn't, she wanted to try and make Shadow see the errors of his ways, but even she, the ruler of Equestria, was beginning to lose hope.

(Guardian's sanctuary, outside the council chambers)

As Silver approached the large door, that lead to the council chambers, he couldn't help but remember all the bad time's he's had, arguing with the council member's, he still couldn't understand why, they even existed, to him, all they did was sit in that chamber, and argue amongst themselves.

When he was right in front of the door, he sighed heavily, and turned to look a Sapphire, being his wife, she had to attend meeting in the chamber, it didn't please her very much.

Silver then, opened the door, and was greeted by silence as he entered, he looked around and saw all the faces of the members staring at him, "my apologies, council members, I just received the news that we we're in session" he said, as he made his way across the chamber, and took a his seat at the end of the room.

Suddenly one of the members, stood up, "yes, thank you for finally joining us, Grand Master, we trust your journey went well" he said, Silver just stared at him, but answered none the less, "yes it was, we merely stopped here to rest and resupply, our journey will continue, in two days" he said, looking at pony as he sit back down, only to have another one stand up, on the other side of the room, "forgive me my lord, I hope you don't mind that I ask, how many shrines have you reached" he said.

Silver thought about it for a moment, and then turned his attention, "unfortunately, we have only reached two of the shrines, a journey like this takes time" he said, scanning over the other ponies in the room, their expression's filled with disappointment, "with all due respect, my lord, Shadow Blaze is growing stronger, we may not have much time left, you know what will happen if we fail" he said, at this point Silver got up, and walked to the middle of the room, as all eyes fell on him.

"members of the council, I am well aware of the consequences of failure, but this journey will take time, traveling on hoof, is the best way, even if it is the slowest, Shadow's eyes are everywhere, if we we're to use an airship, we would surely be caught" he said, looking around him, the members then started to talk amongst themselves, and Silver knew that it wouldn't be easy, it was going to be a long day for him.

(Twilight and Flame's room)

After they arrived, Twilight and Flame, as well as her friends were given very large rooms, that they assumed were meant for them, it was much bigger than the tent, the bed was far more comfortable, then the one back home, the very thought of home, brought tears to Twilight's eyes, being away, and hearing of the attack, tore her up inside.

Flame noticed her sorrow, and walked up to her, "hey what's wrong Twilight?" he said, with concern, she turned to him, with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry, it's just that I miss being home, and when I heard that PonyVille was attacked, I couldn't help but wonder if our lives would ever return to normal" she said as she started to cry, she turned away from Flame, who hated to see her crying, he walked up behind her, and turned her around, and looked into her tear filled eyes.

He smiled, as he quickly pressed his lips to hers, in an effort to comfort him, luckily it worked, she leaned into the kiss, and quickly separated their lips, they smiled as they looked in to each other's eyes, "listen, we are going to make it out of this, all of us, we can help rebuild PonyVille, and then we can start a family" he said, with a kind smile that warmed her heart.

Suddenly Twilight got an idea, one that she thought she would never have, "you know Flame, ever since we started this journey, we never had any real time alone, maybe we could…you know" she said making certain eye movements, Flame knew what she meant, and his eyes widened, but he smiled none the less, "well, look who's changed their mood so fast" he said with a smile, Twilight giggled and looked into his eyes, "yeah but still, we never got the chance to be alone" she said in between kisses as they started to kiss each other, more and more, and their kissing became more passionate, as Flame lifted Twilight up and onto the bed, with him landing on top, the two still making out passionately.

Through the time they have been married, which wasn't very long, they had talked about having a foal, but never really got past heated make out sessions, but right now they wanted to push past it, if only they weren't interrupted.

The suddenly they heard somepony knocking on their door, they quickly stopped their 'activity' and Flame turned and looked down at Twilight, who was breathing heavily, with a smile on her face, "we can finish this later" she said as they both got up, and brushed themselves off.

They both turned to the door, "yes come in" Flame said, and the door opened slowly, and in walked a guard, with a curious expression, he looked to them, "sorry, am I interrupting something?" he asked, Twilight and Flame looked at each other, and then turned back to him, "no" they both answered simultaneously, the guard eyed them suspiciously, but they both kept their cool.

Suddenly he smiled, "ok then, I came to tell you, that lord Silver wishes to speak to you, if you will follow me please" he said as he left the room, Twilight turned to Flame, and winked at him, as she followed the guard, and Flame followed her, but not before catching a good look at her flank, before he caught up to her.

So the two proceeded to follow the guard, and see what Silver wanted to talk to them about.

**A/N: wow…that was the longest chapter I have ever written, and my fingers are killing me, well hoped you enjoyed, a lot of stuff was reveled in this chapter, but now that I am off of school, I can update regularly again, peace out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: well, here's the next chapter, things get more interesting.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 7: change of plans**

As Flame and Twilight, followed the guard through the halls of the sanctuary, they found themselves in an awkward silence, mainly because they were interrupted, during their 'activity', so they decided to stay quiet, until they decided to ask, where they were being taken.

"Um, excuse me sir, but where are we going?" Twilight asked with curiosity in her voice, the guard didn't turn around but he, answered her question, "we are going to the war room, lord Silver, wishes to speak to you and your friends" he said as they continued walking, and so they stayed like that for another ten minutes.

Shortly after, they arrived in front of a large door, they assumed it was their destination, the guard then stepped to the side, and looked at them, at first they were confused, but then he motioned for them to go through the door, they felt nervous at first, but after all they had been through, they had gotten used to it.

They walked forward and Flame, pushed the door open, and they slowly walked in, the first thing they saw, was a large table, in the middle of the room, with a large group of ponies standing around it, they then recognized them as their friends, when they stepped in, the one in the middle lifted his head, revealing none other than Silver.

When he saw them, he smiled, and motioned them to step forward, "ah good you made it, please come, I hope the guards didn't disturb you or anything" he said with a smile, and when they came up to the table, Flame tried his best to smile, "yeah, we were in the middle of…stuff" he said glancing at Twilight, who shared his nervousness.

When they arrived at the table, they saw all their friends, standing around it, obviously waiting for them, "good, now that we are all here, we can get started" Silver said, as he turned his attention to the map in front of him, when they looked down, they saw a map of Equestria, but it was labeled different from what they were used to.

Silver cleared his throat, and began to speak, "okay, I know you are wondering why you are here, well, it's because we need to make a change of plans" he said, and when he did, it caught all their attention, "it turns out we are shorter on time than I thought, in order to outrun Shadow's forces, we need to pick up the pace, so I devised a new method of transportation" he said, calmly.

After he did, they waited for a few moments, and then he continued, "the reason I had us walk, the way here, is because I thought we could evade Shadow's detection, turns out I was wrong, so I have some good news and some bad news" he said, looking at all the ponies standing around the table.

They waited for a little while, before Flame spoke up, "well, what is it?" he asked, and Silver looked up at him, with a smile, "the good news is, we won't be walking anymore, we are going to take and air ship" he said, and when he did, they all sighed with relief, but he wasn't finished, "but the bad news is, that by using an air ship, it will increase our chances of being caught" he said, as his smile disappeared, along with the other's.

"Well, if we might get caught, I don't think it's a very good idea" Twilight said, after she did, Silver looked up at her, "at first I didn't either, but I realized we have no choice, if we want to get to the remaining four shrines" he said, with a solemn look on his face.

"Well then, looks like we really don't have a choice, so what's our destination" Shining Armor asked, looking over the map, Silver made a partial smile, as he turned his attention back to the map, "well, lucky for us, two of the next shrines, our very close to each other, the shrine of kindness and the shrine of loyalty" he said looking up to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who had shocked and nervous expression.

"So, we will be taking the air ship, to this outpost here, outpost 39, in the middle of the desert" he said, pointing to a specific spot on the map, "again, lucky for us, the shrines, are maybe a mile or two from the base, so we can fly there, and we would only have two more shrines to go, laughter and generosity" he said turning his attention to Pinkie Pie, who had an excited face as usual, and Rarity who had a shocked face on.

They all remained silent, for a few minutes, before Flame spoke up, "I like this plan, I say we do it" he said looking at all the others, some shared his idea, some did not, Silver turned to Twilight, who had a solemn face, to him, she was the unofficial leader of the elements, so it was up to her, he got his answer, when she looked up, she had a small hint of anger.

"I agree, we need to find a way to stop him, before he hurts any more, and if this is the only way, then I say we do it" she said, with a calm voice, and Silver smiled, "well, alright then, mother, can you have a ship prepared for launch, we leave tomorrow at dawn, we should arrive, by the late afternoon, but I must warn you, it gets awfully hot, in the middle of the day" he said as he got up and walked away from the table.

Everpony soon followed suit, returning to their room, to rest for the long journey ahead.

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

Shadow Blaze, sat on the throne at the top of the stairs, lost deep in thought, the last time he talked to Celestia, she said something to him, something that had brought back terrible memories, ones he thought were gone.

What Celestia said, reminded him of her, the mare he once loved, the memories he once cherished came flowing back to him.

(Flashback)

It was a bright sunny day, and the sun shined down, on the newly established castle, the war had ended a few years ago, and even now the ponies were still hard at work, to rebuild the war torn nation, but none more so than a certain unicorn.

Shadow was hard at work, in his lab; he was on the verge of his greatest creation, one that would benefit all the ponies of Equestria, and he had finally completed it, but just as he finished, the door behind him opened, and in walked a mare, that he knew all too well.

"Shadow I'm here, now what is it you wanted to talk about?" she asked, but before she got her answer, Shadow turned around suddenly, scaring her slightly; he had a huge smile on his face.

"Violet, I'm glad you are here, I've finally done it, come see" he said grabbing her hoof, and bringing her over to the table, on it lay three potions, with no special design of any sort, to her they looked like any ordinary potions.

"What do you see?" he asked with a broad smile on his face, she smiled as well, "well I see three ordinary potions" she said, looking over to him, that was when his smile grew wider, "that's where you're wrong, you see, after years of hard work, I have finally made a potion that can benefit all three races of ponies" he said gesturing to the first one, an ordinary blue potion.

"This one here, can increase the agility, and flying capabilities, of any Pegasus" he said proudly, as he turned his attention to a green potion, "this one can increase the strength and endurance, of any earth pony" he said before taking her over to the last potion, a purple one, "and this one, can greatly increase the magical capabilities of any unicorn, giving them power beyond their imagining" he said, with a smile, that went from ear to ear.

"that doesn't sound very safe" Violet said, he turned to her, still smiling, "well, it has it's limitations, I was just exaggerating" he said as he turned to face her fully, she smiled, and wrapped her hoof around him, "their great, no wonder the Princess's chose you to be their court wizard, you have helped out so many ponies, and I'm sure you can help more" she said with a smile equal to his.

He kissed her lightly on the lips, "all because of you, my beautiful wife, you give me strength to do the things I do, if it weren't for you, I don't know what I would do" he said, as his kissed her again, they stayed like that for a while, before she quickly separated her lips, much to his disappointment, she looked away.

"What is it?" he asked brining her face to his, "I have wonderful news" she said, with a smile, now he was confused, "the Princess's, have assigned my expedition team, to lead a mission into the mountains, isn't it wonderful" she said with a smile, but Shadow didn't share her excitement.

"What's wrong, aren't you happy, you don't have to worry about me" she said as she lead him to the couch, on the side of the room, and they sat down, he turned to her, "it's not just you I'm worried about" he said placing a hoof on her stomach, she frowned, when he said that.

"Shadow…I'll be fine, I'm only going for a week, everything's going to be fine, trust me" she said as she looked him in the eyes, whenever she reassured him, he always felt better, it was one of the many thing he loved about her.

(End flashback)

Shadow lost his train of thought, when the large doors, on the other end of the room, flew open, and one of his guards came running up to the throne, it took his a few seconds to reach the steps, because the room was so long, but when he did, the guard gave a respectful bow, and looked up to him.

"My lord, we have received a transmission from Night Wing, he wishes to speak with you" the guard said, before he looked back down, Shadow who still had his eyes closed finally opened them, and looked down at him, "thank you guard, I will be there shortly" he said, before the guard nodded ad turn and walked out of the room, Shadow sat there for a few seconds before he stood up, and walked down the steps and out of the room, with the memory still fresh in his head.

(Guardians sanctuary)

The morning after, their meeting with Silver, Twilight and Flame, were woken up early in the morning, they remembered that they needed to leave by dawn, and so after waking up, they were taken, to the launch bay, where the air ship they were taking was being prepared for launch.

Due to it still being early in the morning, they were still tired, but they got up none the less, and made their way to the hangar bay.

When they arrived, they saw it full of activity, due to the short notice, normally it would take at least a day to get everything prepared, but they had less than a day, and yet things were going smoothly, by the time they arrived.

The first thing they saw was Silver and Sapphire, directing all the ponies, in a rush to get underway, so they decided to go up and talk to them.

"Ah, good to see you finally woke up, we were starting to believe, that we would have to come and get you" Silver said with a smile, as they walked up to them, Flame was the first to speak, "well, we're here, and it seems you got everything under control" he said, looking at the massive ship in front of him, his amazement, amused Silver, "yes we are ready to leave, if you will come with us" he said as they made their way to the ramp.

When they came up to it, they saw their friends, already making their way into the ship, soon a guard came up to Silver, and they saw his mother closely following, the smallest hint of tears in her eyes, Silver smiled as he walked up to her, and pulled into a hug.

"I'll be fine mother, I will come back when it's finished" he said, trying to comfort her, they separated, and they looked into each other's eyes, "just make sure you come back in one piece, all of you" she said before they turned away, and walked up the ramp, but not before Silver took on last look at his mother, before the ramp closed, and so they turned and made their way to the bridge.

(Guardians ship, bridge)

When they passed through the door, into the bridge, the site before them, shocked them greatly, even Flame hadn't seen a ship this big, inside there were many ponies walking around the room, making the final preparations for take-off.

"my friends, welcome to the Flying Star" he said as he walked forward, and walked up to a pony standing in the middle of the room, who they assumed was the captain, "captain, are we ready for take-off" he said, the pony turned to Silver, and gave him a salute, one that Silver returned, "yes, my lord, we are ready" he said, with a smile.

"well, let's get her in the air" Silver said as he looked out the giant window in front of them, "yes sir" he said as he turned to the intercom, and spoke, "attention, this is your captain speaking, let's get this ship running, all engines up to maximum power, I repeat all engines to maximum power" he said before, he let go.

At first, nothing happened, but then the ship began to shake lightly, catching all of them by surprise, but then it died down, Silver knew that the massive engines were being turned on, and slowly the ship began to move forward, as it slowly inched out of the cave.

As it left the cave, and climbed higher and higher from the ground, "captain, get us higher in the air" Silver said, as he turned and walked up to Twilight and Flame, who still looked amazed, Twilight walked over to the window, and looked out, as the sanctuary vanished behind the clouds, as they ascended, above the clouds.

Soon after, Twilight walked back next to Flame, "there are some cabins below deck, you can go rest, we should arrive at the outpost, in the afternoon" he said as he turned back, and walked back up next to the captain.

"Come on, Twilight" Flame said, as he started walking, she hesitated but turned and quickly followed after them.

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

Shadow Blaze, was pacing back and forth, in the throne room, after he met with Night Wing, via visual transmission, he had been devising a new way to strike his enemies where it hurt the most, and In doing so, he requested to be alone, but the haunting memory from earlier, still lingered in his mind, and when he wasn't thinking about other things, they slowly crept into his mind, followed by one of the most painful memories, the day his beloved wife died.

(Flashback)

Shadow was walking around his private library, reading a book, on spells and incantations; it was always his favorite thing to do, when he wasn't working.

It was later in the night, as he walked along the shelves full of books; it had been a few days since his wife left on her expedition, and even though she reassured him, he couldn't help but feel nervous, a week before, the doctors told him that his wife was pregnant, he was more than overjoyed, but little did he know, that he would never see his foal come into the world, this day would change his life forever.

He was interrupted from reading, when the door flew open, startling him; he dropped the book to the ground, as two of the Princess's royal guards walked into the room.

"What is the meaning of this" he asked, as they walked up to him, they stopped in front of him, as one of them spoke, "lord Shadow, there has been an accident, with your wife's expedition team" he said, and they wish they hadn't, Shadow's eyes widened, when he heard the news.

"What happened, tell me" he said, with a faint hint of tears in his eyes, at first the guards hesitated, but continued, "during the expedition, there was an avalanche, half of the soldiers were killed, she was found, and immediately brought back here, but she is in critical condition" the guard said, suddenly, Shadow ran past them, and straight to the hospital wing, leaving the guards behind.

(Canterlot castle, hospital wing)

Shadow stormed into the hospital, and made his way to the room, where she was being kept, as he was about to open the door, he was stopped by one of the doctors, "sorry sir, you can't go in there, the patient is in critical condition" he said, but Shadow wouldn't stop, "let go of me, you fool, I am the court wizard, that's my wife in there" he said pushing past him, and opening the door.

When he walked inside, the sight before him, broke his heart, lying in the bed, was indeed his beloved wife, her body was covered in bruises and scratches, and he saw that her breathing was very slow.

He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to, yet there she was, he slowly walked over to the side of the bed, as tears fell from his eyes, when he came to the edge, he leaned over, and grabbed her hoof, causing her to stir, she turned her head to the side, and looked into his eyes, he saw the pain in hers, and it only made it worse.

Even through his tears, he tried to speak, "Violet, I'm so sorry, I should have been there to protect you, it's my fault, it should have been me" he said, as the tears blurred his vision, despite his sorrow, he heard her try to say something, "Shadow…I-I-I'm s-s-sorry" he heard her try to say, "I'd give anything to change this" he said as the tears came at full force.

"Shadow, it wasn't your fault, don't blame yourself, I love you with all my heart, never forget that, I-I-I will always be w-with you" she said as she closed her eyes for the final time, Shadow couldn't believe it, she was dead, his beloved wife was dead.

He cried into the bed sheets, as he still held onto her hoof, he cried his misery out to the world, he thought the heavens were cruel to him, he heard a new set of hooves approaching from behind, and he felt a hoof on his shoulder, when he looked up, he stared into the face of Princess Celestia herself.

Her face was full of sadness; Shadow saw the faint hint of tears in her eyes, she could understand his pain, "I'm so sorry for your loss, Shadow, she was one of the greatest ponies I have ever known" she said before she walked away, after se said that, Shadow still stayed there silently weeping into the sheets, until he was finally convinced to leave, that night he left the hospital with a heart full of sorrow and grief, that night he became a different pony.

(End flashback)

As the memory, continued to remind him of his past, old wounds were awoken, as the pain and sadness flooded back to him all at once, soon it became too much, in a fit of rage and sorrow, he punched the wall, hard enough to nearly shatter it, when he did, he pulled his hoof back and looked at it, but saw no damage.

Suddenly he moved to the side, and as his anger flared up again, as he punched a small hole, straight into the glass, luckily the entire widow didn't shatter, he pulled back his hoof, and observed the damage; he saw blood trickling from the small holes, which the glass punctured in his skin.

He watched with a straight face as the blood began to seep back into the cuts, as the wounds healed, soon all the missing blood, had returned to the body, as his hoof looked the same as it did before, with no sign of any wound of any sort, he still remained calm, his anger had gone, and only sadness remained, he looked through the window, and down to the city, which was now occupied with his troops.

He looked back up to the moon, despite their imprisonment, Celestia and Luna, were still in charge of the sun and moon, that was one of the very few things he let them do, he knew it was still their duty, aside from ruling the kingdom, as he looked down, he closed his eyes, and tried to forget, the memories.

But after he closed his eyes, he felt something trickle down his cheek, something he hadn't felt in centuries, he brought his hoof up to his cheek, and brushed it off, when he brought his hoof away to observe it, and he found it to be a tear, something he never thought he would do again, he was actually crying.

Suddenly, his put his hoof down to the floor, and turned away from the window, he walked away from it, and made his way to leave the room, and closed the door behind him.

**A/N: wow that was cool, is it me, or is things getting more intense, well see you next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: well I'm back for the next chapter, so enjoy.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 8: the shrine of kindness**

It had been a day since the team arrived at outpost 39, due to them arriving later than intended, Silver allowed them, to rest for the day, especially Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, tomorrow they would set out, to find the shrines of kindness and loyalty.

But right now, they were in the war room, discussing their next move, "okay, our first stop is the shrine of kindness, luckily for us, the shrine of loyalty is not far, in fact it's practically right next to it" Silver said, to his friends as they gathered around the table, Fluttershy and even Rainbow Dash, became more nervous as the time, approached.

But before Silver could continue, one of the guards came rushing into the room, and straight up to Silver, "my lord, we have received a distress signal, from outpost 27, it doesn't sound good sir" the guard said, and when he did, Silver turned around, with a serious expression on his face, "what kind of signal?" Silver asked, "we-we aren't sure, my lord, it sounds like a call for help" the guard said.

Silver walked up to him, "show me" he said, and the guard turned toward the rest of the ponies in the room, "replay the message" he said, and all the ponies turned back to the computers, and started pressing buttons, until it came up on the main screen.

"_Calling outpost 39, calling outpost 39, this is an emergency, we're under attack, they came out of nowhere, we can't hold them off any longer, and we need immediate reinforcements…"_ they heard a voice say, before the line went dead, Silver looked away, with a sad expression on his face, just then Comet walked up, "what do we do, dad?" he said, Silver turned to his son.

He sighed and turned towards Twilight and her friends, "outpost 27, is about a day's journey…in the complete opposite direction" he said, with a solemn look on his face, Sky Breeze walked up to him, "but you can't ignore a call for help" he said with a serious face, Silver turned to him, "I never said, we wouldn't do anything about, but we can't risk giving away our location, it's too soon" Silver said, to is uncle.

As the two, continued to argue, the other just stood by and watched, until they were interrupted, by another voice, "I'll go" came a voice from behind, Silver knew that voice all too well, he turned around and saw, Sapphire walking up to him, with a calm look on her face.

The room fell silent, as Silver walked up to her, with a solemn expression, "you know it's not a good idea" he said, and when he did, all Sapphire did was smile, "I know, but you need to get them to the shrines, Comet and I will go to outpost 27, and do what we can to help" she said, looking into his eyes, deep down silver knew she was right.

He then turned his attention to the colonel, "how many soldiers are based here, colonel?" Silver asked, looking at Sapphire, " a total of 120 soldiers are stationed here" he said, from behind, Silver thought about it for a moment, and then looked back to his wife, "alright, but take at least 40 troops with you, whoever attacked the outpost still might be there" he said, with uncertainty in his voice, just then Sapphire and Comet, turned and walked out the door, and Silver turned to his uncle, who shared his uncertainty, "uncle, you go with them, keep them safe" he said, Sky Breeze, just nodded, "yes, my lord" he said before he walked out the door.

He stayed like that for a few seconds, until he turned his attention back to Twilight and her friends, who had remained quiet during the entire time, "right, we have work to do, miss dash, miss Fluttershy, I hope you are ready" he said as he walked past them, and out the door.

(Later…)

As both groups, gathered in the courtyard, they were ready to set out, but Silver still unsure about Sapphires choice, "are you sure you want to do this?" he said, with the slightest hint of fear in his voice, she smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "I'll be fine, I can handle myself" she said, Silver smiled, and turned to his son, "Comet, listen to me, whatever happens, remember what I taught you" he said, as he pulled him into a hug.

Soon after, they both set out, Sapphires group continuing forward, while Silver's group turned to the side, little did they know, that this day would change his life, forever.

(Later…)

After what seemed like hours of travel, they finally arrived at their destination, but to them, it didn't seem any different than what they saw before, in front of them, lay nothing but large rocks, and one significantly larger rock in the middle, ad so they made their way through the area, until they approached the larger rock in the middle.

"please, don't tell me, you dragged us out here for nothing" Twilight said, complaining, much to Flame and Shining Armor's amusement, Silver turned to them, with a smile on his face, "we are here" he said in an eerie voice, obviously trying to freak them out, the only one who seemed affected, was Fluttershy, who was hiding behind her friends.

Silver then turned back to the rock, and placed his hoof on the rock, and ran it along the surface, until again he found, and oddly shaped rock, that didn't look like it belonged, he smiled, and he applied pressure, and just as the last two times, the rock slid in, almost completely, and they heard a massive clicking sound, as the rock surface seemed to change.

The surface of the rock, began to slid to the side, revealing nothing more than a dark cave, with a staircase leading down into it, Silver then turned to the others, who, even after all they had seen, were still shocked, he just chuckled and motioned for them to step through, and so they did, as they made their way down, Silver turned to Fluttershy, who was standing still, looking into the cave with fear in her eyes.

Silver sighed, and with the help of her friends, they managed to convince Fluttershy to go in, and so they made their way through the cave, and just like the other times, it was a long, narrow corridor, that eventually, came up to a large door, that they pushed open, and again found only darkness.

As they made their way in, the door behind them slammed shut, and they were surrounded by darkness, then just as the last two, the torches at the end of the room, began to light themselves, all the way to the other side of the room, revealing a massive room, decorated with gold, but that's not what amazed them, at the other end, stood a large statue, similar to the others.

As they approached, they saw that it represented a female Pegasus, standing in a proud position, with the element necklace dangling around her neck, but they couldn't make out any other features, Silver turned to Fluttershy, who was too busy staring at the statue, as if it hypnotized her, Silver didn't even need to tell her, she immediately began walking up to it, and when she was a mere few feet from it, just like Twilight and Applejack, she gave a very respectful bow.

At first nothing happened, until another loud voice filled, the room, startling them all except Fluttershy, she just remained in her position, _"speak thy name and intentions"_ the voice said, only it was a female's voice, and all eyes fell on her, and she spoke with confidence, they never thought they would her from her, "my name is Fluttershy, I am the element of kindness, I have come to learn in the ways of harmony" she said with such confidence, it shocked all of them.

Out of nowhere, a bright flash filled the room, causing all of them, to cover their eyes, and just as quickly as it came, it stopped, and when they looked they saw no trace of Fluttershy anywhere, having gotten used to it by now, they didn't panic, they just turned to Silver, who had a serious look on his face.

"What do we do now?" Twilight asked him, he turned to her with a smile, and then glanced over to Rainbow Dash, and then back to her, "now, we find the shrine of loyalty" he said as he turned away from the statue, and made his way to the large door, that had now opened, Twilight glanced to all her friends, and then sighed, she as well as her friends, followed him out.

(Unknown location)

Fluttershy, found herself, in an empty white space, no signs of any life, in any direction, normally she would be frightened to death, but she remained calm, "hello, is anypony there" she said, as she searched around her, luckily for her, she got her answer.

"You are not alone, I am here" she heard a voice say from behind, she turned around, as saw a female Pegasus, walking toward her, with a kind smile on her face, Fluttershy didn't feel afraid of this pony, in fact she felt safe.

"Who are you?" Fluttershy asked, trying to sound brave, "I am your predecessor, my name is Shining Star, the original element of kindness, I have waited many years for you" she said as she circled her, only now did Fluttershy, begin to feel nervous, but she still remained calm.

"So, you think you can handle the responsibility, of being an element of harmony" she said as she stood right in front of Fluttershy, staring her in the eyes, Fluttershy nodded, and she continued, "in the time I was alive, kindness was rare, the world was consumed by hatred, all of it was caused by Shadow Blaze, I can teach you, but you must be willing to learn" she said, with a serious face.

At first Fluttershy was unsure, but she took a deep breath, and turned to her, matching her expression, "I'm ready, I will do what it takes to help my friends" she said as she took a bow, Shining Star smiled, down at her, "very well, let your lessons begin" she said, Fluttershy could only smile, in return.

**A/N: well, that's it for now; I know it's shorter than the last few chapters, but more is on the way.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: yeah, I'm on a roll, I told you things are getting good, and they will get even better in the next few chapters.**

The Gathering Storm: chapter 9: the shrine of loyalty

After Fluttershy had vanished, which they assumed, she would be taken to a place where she could be taught to use her element, to defeat Shadow Blaze, and now it was time for Rainbow Dash to do the same.

After leaving the cave, Silver lead them to the other side, where he told them, they could find the next shrine, after coming around the corner, they noticed, some of the rocks, were stacked on top of each other, they did that all the way to the top of the cave, to them it resembled a staircase, and that is exactly what it was.

Silver smiled, and turned to them, who all had completely confused looks, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself, at their confusion, "the next shrine, is up there" he said pointing to the staircase, they all hesitated at first but they began to make their way up to the top of the rock.

When they reached the top, they walked to the edge, where the entrance to the other shrine was exactly below them, Silver couldn't help but smile, but the others were confused, so again he had to explain, he turned to them, "okay so where is it, all I see is rocks, dirt, and aside from us, no sign of life anywhere" Flame, said in an irritated tone, Silver just sighed and began to explain.

"Calm down Flame, you may not know it, but we are already here" he said, looking at all of them, but they just looked in all directions, but saw nothing, so Silver continued, "You see, the shrine of loyalty, is harder to find, because it moves" he said, and when he did, the looks on their faces made him nearly burst out in laughter, they all had confused looks.

"What are you talking about, a shrine doesn't move, there's nothing here" Shining Armor said, with a hint of anger in his voice, Silver again, just smiled, "so sure of that" he said as he turned around, and placed his right hoof forward, and ran it across the ground, until he felt and odd misplaced rock, he smiled, as he pushed it down into the ground, but instead of a loud clicking noise, something else happened, something that surprised them all.

The wind began to pick, ever so slowly, until it became really fast, and it forced the, all to cover their eyes, and just as quickly as it started, it stopped and they all looked in front of them, what they saw shocked them completely, while silver was only slightly surprised.

In front of them sat a simple cloud, white and fluffy, silver just turned to the others, with a smile on his face, but they were completely surprised, "well, what are you waiting for?" he said as he slowly stepped up, Rainbow Dash, began to panic, "wait, don't, you can't walk on a cloud, you're a unicorn" she said, as she rushed forward, but was stopped when Silver climbed up on to it, with no trouble at all.

She gasped, and looked up to him, he just stood there smiling on his face, "you were saying" he said, with a laugh, Rainbow and the others just stared on in amazement, "would it surprise you Miss Dash, if I told you, that your predecessor, was a unicorn" he said as he jumped up on the next cloud, as they all formed a staircase up into the clouds, "but-but how?" she asked, he just smiled, "there are things in this world, that might not make any sense to you, but to us, it very real" he said as he jumped up onto the third step, he turned back to them, "you coming or what?" he said as he began jumping from cloud to cloud.

They all sat there, with their mouths nearly to the floor, until they shook it off, and slowly made their way up the staircase, up into the clouds.

After jumping from cloud to cloud, and still thinking it was impossible, they finally caught up with Silver, who was standing in front of a massive structure, when they saw it, their mouths nearly dropped again; it had the same design as an ordinary structure in Cloudsdale, with all the stone pillars, and arches.

Silver then turned around and faced them, with a smile, "well, let's go" he said as he walked up to the massive door, and slowly pushed it open, revealing another large room, with no windows, and no other source of light, except for the multiple torches along the walls.

As soon as they all walked in, the large door behind the, swung shut, sealing them inside, and just like the other times, as soon as it did, all the torches, began to light themselves, until they reached the end of the room.

They all turned their attention, and again, found themselves staring at a massive statue, of a male unicorn, with the necklace dangling around his neck, Silver turned to Rainbow Dash, who kept looking from the statue to him, he motioned with his hoof, for her to approach it, she looked at it, and swallowed nervously, she wasn't scared she was just very nervous.

When she was a few feet in front of it, she took a nice, respectful bow, she waited for something to happen, and as usual it did, _"speak your name, and intentions young one"_ came a loud male voice, this one, aside from the loudness, wasn't as deep as the others, it was softer, but still loud enough to make them all nervous.

At first she didn't know what to say, she did what all the others did, "my name is Rainbow Dash, I am the element of loyalty, I have come here, to learn in the ways of harmony" she said, with a nervous voice, normally she would have done it better, but her nervousness got the better of her, but luckily it wasn't too bad.

Soon after, they were all blinded by a bright flash, again, forcing them to cover their eyes, or look away, and soon it went away, leaving no trace of their friend, Silver sighed and turned and walked towards the door, "wait, where are you going?" he heard Twilight ask from behind, he didn't turn around, but he still answered her.

"All we can do is wait until your friends return" he said, as the door opened, and he calmly walked through it, Twilight and her friends, looked at each other, before they followed him out, it was going to be a long trip back.

(Unknown location)

Rainbow Dash, woke up and found herself in a different place, instead of the shrine, she saw nothing but an empty space, she got up and began walking around, trying to find, any source of life, but was unsuccessful, she felt like she was walking for hours until she heard a strange voice.

"so you must be Rainbow Dash, the new host of the element of loyalty" the voice said, to her it sounded familiar, like she heard it before, but couldn't place where, she turned around and saw a male unicorn, walking toward her, the necklace dangling around his neck.

"you must be, the original element of loyalty, it's an honor to meet you" she said taking a bow, at first he was caught off guard, but he just smiled, "indeed I am, my name is Lightning, I am your predecessor" he said stopping in front of her.

"I have come to learn in the ways of true harmony" she said, before taking another bow, his face became serious, as he looked down at her, "to know the true meaning of loyalty, it is something greater than you can imagine, loyalty is a tricky element, but if you truly believe you are the one, then I shall teach you what I know, but it won't be easy" he said, looking down at her.

She rose from her position, and looked him in the eyes, she sighed heavily, "I'm ready to learn" she said, with an equally serious face, he smiled at her, "then Miss Dash, shall we begin" he said, as Rainbow couldn't help but smile.

**A/N: like I said this one and the last chapter, weren't very long, but the ones after that will be longer.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: here is the next chapter, and this is where things get very interesting.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 10: the trap**

It had been nearly a day since they parted ways, and Sapphire's group was within reach of outpost 27, since they left they hadn't heard any more transmission, from the base, it began to worry them all, luckily it wasn't far, and the sun was nearly setting.

Sapphire and Comet, walked at the front of the group, talking amongst themselves, while Sky Breeze was farther back, talking to the lieutenant, in charge of their squad.

"so, who do you think is behind it, mom" Comet asked, looking over at her, at first she didn't know how to answer, but she just sighed, and continued walking, "I don't know, but it sounded serious, we mustn't waste any time" she said, as Sky Breeze walked up to them, with a concerned look on his face.

"How are you two holding up" he said, as he walked with them, Sapphire frowned, and again, continued walking, "we're fine, I still don't know why, my husband, told you to come with us, we can handle ourselves" Sapphire said, with a little more force in her voice than usual.

Sky Breeze, merely chuckled, "I'm just here to keep you safe, that's all, and besides, it's been a while, since I saw any action" he said, looking down at Comet, who was smiling, thought his training, he was taught to fight in any scenario, but he was never one to go looking for a fight, but he was always ready.

The three of them remained silent, until Sky Breeze, spoke up again, "aren't we supposed to be there by now?" he said, looking back and pulling a map out of his satchel, and handing it to Comet, Comet used his magic to open it, and observed it, until he pointed to a specific place on the map, "it should, be right around here" he said looking in all directions, Sky Breeze frowned and turned back to the lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, see if you can trace the transmission back to where it came from" he said, but he got his answer shortly after, "my lady! Look!" they heard a guard say, and they all turned to see him, pointing off to the side, at the bottom of a small valley.

They all rushed over to see what he was pointing at, and they soon wish they hadn't, when they looked down, they saw what they were looking for, but it wasn't what they thought it would be.

At the bottom of the valley stood, outpost 27, only it looked like it had been in a large battle, small fires lay across the courtyard, they looked on in fear, until Sky Breeze, turned to Sapphire, "we should go down there, and see what happened" he said as he walked past her, and tried to find a safer way down, Sapphire shook off her shock, and walked after him closely followed by Comet.

(Later…)

After they found a safe way down, they managed to get a closer look at the damage, as they came closer; they saw the main gate was completely destroyed, and that there were bodies all over the place, all of them dead, and no sign of any survivors.

Soon they walked past the main gate, and into the courtyard, the sight before them, only made it worse, the courtyard, was also littered with bodies, the troops remained silent, mourning for their fellow soldiers, Sapphire stopped in the middle, and looked around, all she saw was death.

Soon, she turned back around, and looked at the soldiers, "spread out, search for any survivors" she said, as Sky Breeze walked up to her, "who could have done this?" he asked, with equal shock, even in all his years, he had never seen such carnage.

Sapphire didn't answer, but she just walked forward, heading for the main building, followed by Sky Breeze and Comet, and a small amount of soldiers.

As they walked the halls, they too, were littered with bodies, all of them with their throats slashed open, hardly any signs of a struggle, it looked like they hardly put up a fight, they kept walking along the halls, until they came to the war room, and just like all the others, it was filled with bodies.

Their eyes open, and staring at nothing, the three of them split up, and searched the room, as Comet circled the table in the middle, he suddenly felt something grab his back hoof, he jumped forward and cried out, and turned around, knife at the ready, when he looked down, he saw the pony in charge of this base, eyes open staring at him, "help me…please" he heard him say, as he slowly crawled towards him.

Comet put his knife away, and ran to his side, and lay him on his back, "mom! I found one" he said, and shortly after, both Sapphire and Sky Breeze arrived, all shocked expressions.

Comet turned his attention, back to the Colonel, he saw him barely keeping his eyes open, he was mumbling something, "it's okay your safe, don't move your hurt badly" Comet said trying to comfort him, the colonel turned his attention to Sapphire, who had the slightest hint of tears in her eyes, he tried speaking, but no words came out, so Sapphire leaned in closer.

"My lady…you have… to get out of here…it's a trap, go before it's too late" he said, as he breathed in one last time, his eyes remained open, staring at nothing, they were sure he was dead, Comet moved his hoof and closed his eyes, Sky Breeze looked up at Sapphire, and saw a single tear coming from her eye, "we have to leave, obviously something happened here, something we aren't prepared for" he said, as comet gently lay him down, they then proceeded to the door.

Sky Breeze brought his hoof up to his ear, "lieutenant, have you found any-" he tried to say before he was cut off by a loud explosion, and the room shaking, almost forcing them off their hooves, suddenly the lieutenant came into the room, and urgent look on his face, "it's a trap! We need to get out of here" he said as he ran out, the others quickly following him.

When they came back out to the courtyard, they found what the colonel was telling them, was true, it was a trap, all the soldiers were in battle, and the enemy seemed to come from nowhere, Sky Breeze turned to the lieutenant, "lieutenant, your job is to get them out of here, that's an order, I'll meet up with you later" he said before he took out his knife and took off into the air.

The lieutenant, turned to Sapphire and Comet, who had worried looks on their faces, "alright, let's go, follow me" he said as he ran up the ramp onto the upper level, where they would have no choice but to fight their way out, luckily for them, there were only a few enemy soldiers up there, which the easily took out, and continued on their way, they were almost home free, until they were stopped by another opponent, this one far more deadlier, than the others.

As they ran across the walkway, suddenly a Pegasus, landed in front of them, he stood up in a calm position, and smiled at them, they knew him all too well, "Night Wing" the lieutenant said with a hint of fear and anger in his voice, he just chuckled, "well the famous Sapphire and Comet, wife and son, of Grand Master Silver Heart, where are you going in such a hurry, the fun is only beginning" he said, still standing calmly.

The lieutenant, unsheathed his knife, and got in a defensive position, in front of Sapphire and Comet, "don't you dare come anywhere near them you bastard" he said, an evil grin spread across, his face, "very well, you make the first move" he said, the lieutenant charged forward, his knife at the ready, but still Night Wing remained calm, and when he was a few feet in front of him, Night Wing jumped up in the air, and the lieutenant ran right under him.

He skid to a stop, and looked around, suddenly he was grabbed from behind by Night Wing and in one swift motion, and Night Wing broke his neck, he smiled as he threw the body to the ground, and then turned back to Sapphire and Comet, who looked on in horror, he just smiled and walked towards them.

Now it was Comet's turn to get angry, as he stepped out in front of his mom, and unsheathed his knife, at this sight Night Wing, nearly burst out into laughter, this only made Comet angrier, Sapphire tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen, "oh this is rich, now step aside boy, this is an adult matter" he said in a taunting voice, Comet just stared at him.

Night Wing, just continued to laugh, and comet had finally had enough, he charged forward, screaming, and when he was a few feet from, Night Wing, instead of jumping in the air, he just sat there, all he did was grab comet by the throat, and lift him up in the air, Night Wing merely chuckled, as he watched Comet gasp for breath.

"Your very brave, I'll give you that, but also very foolish" he said as he threw Comet with all his might, to the side, he slammed into the wall, he fell to the floor, and didn't move, Sapphire looked on in pure horror, "Comet, no!" she said, as a tear fell from her eye, but Night Wing just laughed, "oh don't worry, he's not dead, but he is unconscious, which gives me enough time to deal with you" he said as he approached her, she slowly backed up, and unsheathed her knife, and got in a fighting stance, which caused Night Wing to stop.

He just laughed, and smiled, "you know, I'm not one for hitting mares, but since you pulled a knife on me, I guess I could call it self-defense" he said as he jumped up into the air, and flew straight at her, even thought she was a mare, she could fight just as well as anypony could, when he was a few feet in front of her, she dodged to the side, and watched as he hit the ground, she acted quickly, and used all her force and bucked him in the side, causing him to real back.

He just looked up, and laughed, "Well you're a gifted fighter, and I like that in my mares" he said, with a sick grin, Sapphire had finally had enough, she charged forward, swinging her knife wildly, in an attempt to get a hit, but Night Wing dodged every swing, with ease, almost as if he was toying with her.

Finally after a long period of fighting, Sapphire's body was beginning to get weak, as he got more and more hits on her, at one point, she was hit to the ground, and left with scratches and bruises all over her body.

She lay on the ground, too weak to get up, and as Night Wing slowly approached her, she tried to crawl to her knife, but right as she got to it, she felt a pony step on her hoof, causing her to cry out in pain, as she watch Night Wing kick it away, and kick her onto her side.

Her body was screaming in pain, as Night Wing stood over her, with a serious face, "such a waste, you would have made a great member, to our group" he said as he raised the knife, he was about to drop it, and as Sapphire looked up in horror, suddenly Night Wing cried out in surprise as he was pushed to the side, and when Sapphire looked up she saw Comet, breathing heavily, and looking over at Night Wing, with hate in his eyes.

"I won't let you touch her again!" he yelled getting in a fighting position, and he charged forward, at Night Wing who was still slightly surprised, by his determination, but even then it was pointless, due to Comet's inexperience in a fight, and weakened state, it was easy for Night Wing to overpower him, and quickly defeat him.

Comet cried out in pain, as he was thrown to the ground, he looked up in time to see Night Wing approach him, he tried to move, but his weak body refused to work, and all he could do was look, at Night Wing's angry face, "I think I'm done here, as entertaining as a punching bag you've been, I find there no more fun left to be had here" he said as he again raised his knife, above him.

Sapphire, who had watched the entire thing, cried out as Night Wing lifted the blade above his head, she used what was left of her strength, and got on her hooves, and with this new found strength, she ran to her sons side, and jumped.

Comet knew he was defeated, so all he could do was close his eyes, "I'm sorry dad, I failed you" he said as, waited for his death, Night Wing smiled as he pushed the knife forward, at full force, at first Comet heard the sound of a knife piercing flesh, but strangely, he felt no pain, he opened his eyes, an saw a pony standing in front of him, he crawled to the side, and saw his mom, with the blade, stabbed right into her chest.

Sapphire looked down, at the knife, and back at Night Wing, who had a completely shocked look on his face, "mom!" she heard her son cry out, Night Wing pulled the blade out and she fell to her side, clutching the wound, he looked down at her, still half amazed, "a fools sacrifice" he said, he quickly turned his attention back to Comet, who had a horrified look on his face, and tears streaming from his eyes.

He was about to say something, but was cut off when he was again pushed to the side, Comet looked up, and saw Sky Breeze standing over him, he was staring at Night Wing, "it's over Night Wing, your army is gone, you've lost" he said, during that entire time, Night Wing had forgotten about the attack, he looked over, and saw only a small amount of his troops remaining, he turned back to Sky Breeze, and smiled.

"so it seems, you but no matter, I got what I wanted, you may have won this time, but next time, it won't be so easy" he said as he took off into the air, after that, Sky Breeze sighed in relief, until he remembered about Sapphire, he turned around and saw Comet holding his mom, trying to support her.

As Comet held onto his mom, he immediately put pressure on the wound, he looked down at her, with teary eyes, he saw her mouth moving, as if trying to talk, he leaned down, "Comet…I'm so sorry" she said, before her breathing ceased, he looked at her, and saw her eyes closed, "no…no mom, don't you dare!" he said trying to shake her, but it didn't work, soon after Sky Breeze came up to him, and put his hoof around her neck, he shortly sighed with relief, "it's okay Comet, she still has a pulse, we need a medic, dammit!" he yelled as he ran off, leaving the two alone.

It was then that Comet's vision began to fade, and he lost his balance, soon he couldn't control himself, and he fell on his side, his entire body felt dead, and he couldn't move, as his eyes grew heavy, the last thing he saw was Sky Breeze returning with some medics, and his mom, being lifted onto a stretcher, then he saw only darkness.

**A/N: wow…um…that was really intense, even writing the end made me sad, well, come back next time, to see what happens next.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: well, I'm back, let's see what happens next.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 11: a terrible loss**

After they had been to both shrines, Twilight and her friends followed Silver, back to the base, where they needed to make the final plans, right now, Twilight, Flame, Shining Armor, and Cadence, were all in a meeting with Silver, discussing their next move.

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Flame asked, as Silver brought out a map, and unrolled it, on the table, right now they were in the library, Silver sighed and looked up to him.

"all we can do is wait, for your friends and Sapphire to return, then we set off for the final two shrines, the shrines of laughter, and the shrine of generosity" he said looking at all of them, "wait, you said it varies, on how long they might be there, we might be here for days, for all we know" Shining Armor said, stepping forward.

"I know, we've been lucky, all we can do is hope, but that's not the only reason I called you here" he said turning back to the map, this left them confused, so he continued, "we might have a problem" he said, and when he did, they all gave an annoyed sigh, but he still continued.

"As part of the legend goes, the shrine of generosity's location was never recorded, in the guardian archives" he said turning around to face them, now they were completely confused, "wait what do you mean, never recorded" Twilight walked up and asked, Silver turned his attention to her.

"It means, that its location was lost, but I have some good news and bad news, which would you like to hear" he said, with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather hear the good news" Cadence said, looking at the others, Silver just smiled and turned his attention back to the others, "well, the good news is, my researchers have, made an accurate guess, on its location" he said, smiling.

"okay, what's the bad news" Flame said, with an irritated look, Silver's smile disappeared, and he turned back to the map, "they believe it to be right here, but the only thing is, is that its underground" he said, pointing to a specific place on the map, one that Twilight and Flame instantly recognized, "or as it is called now, PonyVille" he said, this all shocked them.

Flame was the first to speak, "wait, are you telling us, that the citizens of ponyVille, have been walking, over the shrine, all their lives, and they never even knew it" Flame, said with a confused look on his face, one that silver found partially amusing, "pretty much, yeah" he said, in a matter of fact tone.

It was then that, the door swung open, and in walked a familiar pony, one that made Silver even more happy, but that was about to change,

"Ah uncle, I'm glad your back, did you and Sapphire, find out what happened" he said turning back to the map, he didn't answer, he just looked at Silver, with a saddened look, "Silver…I…" he tried to say, but he didn't know how to tell him, Silver noticed his hesitation, and turned to him, with a confused look on his face.

"uncle, what is it, did something happen" he said, as his turned to his uncle, with a confused look on his face, Sky Breeze sighed sadly, and turned back to him.

"I don't know how to say this, but we arrived at the outpost, but we were too late, everpony was dead, they died long before that message was sent…it was all a trap" he said, looking at the ground, as tears began to form in his eyes, Silver felt his heart rate quicken.

"Uncle…where is Sapphire and Comet" he said, as he began to fear for the worst, Sky Breeze looked up at him, "we found out too late, we were ambushed, I told the lieutenant to get them out of there, but before they could, they were stopped…by Night Wing, the lieutenant was killed, trying to protect them" he said, as he felt his throat knot up, Silver couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"in the fight, Comet was severely injured, and in a last chance to save, him…Sapphire…jumped in the way of the knife" he said, while trying to remain as calm as possible, but even he couldn't control himself, he looked back up at Silver, who had a horrified expression, on his face, and that only made it harder.

"Silver…the medics did everything they could, but it was too late…I'm so sorry Silver, but…Sapphire's…dead" he said, as he started crying himself, at that point Silver, felt his heart break in two, his eyes widened, as he listened to his uncle, he didn't want to believe it, he wouldn't.

For a moment Silver lost his balance, and staggered backwards, he finally got control of himself, his eyes shifted from place to place, he turned away from the others, he breathed out sharply, as he stood there, he felt a single tears form in his eyes, he turned to the desk, and leaned up against it, Sky Breeze watched, as tears flowed from his eyes, and hit the map below, he then wiped them away, and looked up.

"w-what about Comet, is he…" Silver said, Sky Breeze looked at him, "he's alive, they managed to stop the bleeding on time, he's in the hospital wing right now…Silver it's my fault, you told me to protect them…and I failed" Sky Breeze said lowering his head in shame, Silver didn't say anything after that, he just got up and walked away, he approached the door on the other side of the room, and used his magic to open it, and when he passed through it, the door slammed shut, almost causing the whole room to shake.

Sky Breeze sighed, as he started to turn around, Twilight and her friends, stood there the entire time, watching it unfold, "is it true, is she really…" Twilight asked stepping forward, when she did Sky Breeze stopped and sighed, "Yes, its true" he said turning to face them.

"please, you must understand, Silver and Sapphire loved each other, more than life, they've known each other, since they could barely walk, and as they grew older, they became the closest of friends, and when they became of age, that friendship blossomed into love, in all my years, I have never seen a stronger bond between two ponies, and after Comet and Blazing Star were born, it only strengthened the bond between them" Sky Breeze said sadly, as one of the guards walked up to him.

"sir, what are our orders" he asked, Sky Breeze turned to him, "send the word, to the sanctuary, and all outposts, they deserve to know, and lay it down gently to Blazing Star, she's just a filly" he said before, he turned back to them, "rest now, we must prepare for the funeral" he said as he walked out, leaving the four of them alone, Twilight looked over to Flame, and saw the sadness in his eye, even though they didn't know her very well, it was still sad, they couldn't help but wonder, how Silver was taking it.

Without saying a word, they all went back to their own rooms; there was no cause for celebration today.

(Outpost 39, Silver's quarters)

Silver pushed open the doors of his room, and walked in, he couldn't seem to keep his balance, as he began to sway back and forth, his vision blurred with tears, as he slowly made his way to his desk, when he got there he leaned up against, and put his hooves on the top.

He couldn't control his emotions, as tears spilled down his cheeks, he looked to his side, and saw a picture of his family, after Blazing Star was born, they took a family portrait, as was tradition, the very sight of Sapphire, only made it worse, part of the sadness became rage, as he screamed and pushed everything on the desk, including the picture onto the floor below, and when it hit the ground, the picture cracked.

Silver cried out, as he ran his hoof through his mane, he again screamed as he threw the chair onto its side, he stood there, crying into his hoofs, until he looked up, and saw the picture, lying face down on the floor, he reached and picked it up, holding it in his hooves.

The anger died down, and was again replaced by sadness and sorrow, he brought it over to the bed, and sat there, running his hooves across it, tears silently spilling from his eyes, he just held the picture close, and lay down on the bed, holding the picture, all he could do was cry.

(Canterlot castle, dungeon)

Celestia and Luna just lay there, Shadow Blaze, had not come down for another round at taunting them, not since what Celestia said to him, suddenly Celestia felt a sharp pain in her head, bringing her hooves up, Luna noticed this and walked over, with a worried look on her face, "Tia, what is it?" she asked, Celestia opened her eyes, and a single tear fell, as she breathed out heavily.

"Silver Heart, is in pain, terrible pain, something must have happened, he has lost a loved one" she said, turning to Luna, with a sad expression on her face.

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

Shadow sat on his throne, he could feel Silver's pain, it was what he most enjoyed, he breathed in heavily, and opened his eyes with a smile, "excellent work, my apprentice, now they are weak, now they are losing hope", he said as he walked down the stairs, and over to the large window.

He stared out at the sunset, with an evil grin on his face, "soon it will be your end" he said, as the sun sunk beneath the horizon.

(Guardians sanctuary, blazing star's room)

News of Sapphire death, reached the sanctuary, within hours, all of them were shocked and saddened, none knew how to tell Blazing Star herself, so they left it to her Grandmother.

Blazing Star, sat on her bed, huddled up, she could hear multiple voices, from outside, one was her grandmother, she got up and decided to peek out the door, and when she did, she saw her grandmother talking with two of the guards, but she couldn't make out what they were saying.

But the guards had sad expressions on their faces, and when they spoke again, her grandmother, raised her hoof to her mouth, stifling a gasp, and immediately Blazing Star knew it wasn't good, shortly after, she saw her grandmother turn and walk towards the door, she gasped and ran back onto her bed.

When she got there, the door opened, and in walked her grandmother, with a very sad expression on her face, "Grandma, what did they want, did something happen" she asked, but her grandma didn't answer at first, "oh, Blazing Star" she said as she pulled her into a hug, still leaving the young filly confused and scared.

"something terrible has happened" she said, as she separated, and looked into her eyes, and began to tell what happened, much to her dislike, especially when she saw the filly react, it was the most painful thing she had endured since, her husband died.

(Outpost 39, courtyard)

After they all parted ways, Sky Breeze began to organize the funeral, it was tradition, for the Grand Master, or any member of his family, to be placed on a pile of wood, where one of the ponies would light it on fire, as a final goodbye, this was no different.

After it was done, all the ponies on the base, including Twilight and her friends, had gathered in the center of the courtyard, out of respect for Sapphire, it took time, but eventually Silver, came out from his quarters, and attended the funeral.

Earlier that day, Comet was released from the hospital, and attended the funeral, with his dad, as tradition went, if a brave soldier was to die, the Grand Master himself, would come up and say a few words, but not this time, and nopony could blame him, but he stood at the front of the row, with a saddened expression, much like his son.

In front of the pile of wood, stood a small, stage, where a pony would come up and saw a few words, but instead of Silver coming up, Sky Breeze offered to come up and saw a few words.

As he came onto the, stage he got up in front of the crowd, and cleared his throat, even a pony as old as him, who had seen so much in his life, had trouble speaking, they all sat there silent, waiting for him to begin, shortly after he looked up, and began.

"Today…the guardians suffer a very terrible loss" he started; Silver just stood there, his hoof wrapped around his son's shoulder, with a sad expression that seemed glued to his face.

"Sapphire was no doubt, one of the kindest, bravest, and wisest ponies, this order has ever known" he said, as tears began to appear in everyponies eyes, but none more so than Silver and Comet.

"she was…one of the greatest ponies, I have ever known, but she died believing in what we all believe in, and I say we will not let her death be in vain, now the pain that we all feel, reminds us, that we come from different places, and yet we are all brothers and sisters, and that our hearts beat as one, she was more than just one of our leaders, she was a beloved daughter, a beloved mother, and of course, a beloved wife, and now we say goodbye, to you Sapphire, we shall never forget you, you will always be in our hearts" he said, as he lowered his head, out of respect.

Soon after, a pony came through the crowd, carrying a torch, he made his walk nice and slow, as all the ponies lowered their heads in respect, and after a few minutes he reached the pile of wood, where the body lay, and with a sad expression on his face, he slowly placed the torch, next to the wood, and slowly it began to catch fire, and slowly it reached the top.

They all watched, as the fire began to engulf the body, Twilight was on the other side, standing next to Flame, couldn't help but look up, and over to Silver who just stared at the fire, she could see it's reflection in his eyes, from where she was standing, all she could see, was sadness, mixed with anger.

Silver watched as the fire, engulfed the body of his wife, and as he watched, he just looked down at his son, who just watched it, he saw a single tear spill from his eyes, the same went for him, he turned back to the fire, and as he watched it, a certain memory, flashed back into his mind.

(Flashback) 7 years ago

Silver and Sapphire, were walking through the gardens back at the sanctuary, and when they crossed a small bridge, they stopped and looked at each other, they both smiled, their wedding was in a few days, and they couldn't be happier.

"tell me you love me" she said, leaning in closer, Silver just smiled, "you know I do" he said, she just laughed, and looked him in the eyes, "but still, it's just nice to hear you say it" she said, in a slow voice.

He smiled, and replied, "Sapphire, I love you, forever and always" he said, with a smile, she just smiled back, and they leaned in and kissed each other passionately on the lips.

(End flashback)

Silver felt tears spill from his eyes, as the fire, engulfed the pile of wood, they could no longer see the body, and by that time, many of the ponies, began to leave, and go back to their rooms, nopony was doing anything today.

Silver stayed awhile longer, "forever and always" he whispered so no pony could hear him, and as he did he placed a hoof over his heart.

Soon after, it was pointless to stay; Silver and Comet turned away and left, both going their separate ways, they decided to stay for a few more days, but today was a silent day for the guardians, and their friends.

**A/N: aw, dammit…even I got teary eyed, when writing this chapter, well; I hope you guys enjoyed it, now I need tissues.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: hey guys I'm back, here's the next chapter.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 12: the day after**

It had been a day since the funeral, and nopony had seen Silver or Comet since then, mainly because, they had gone to their rooms and not come out since, so Twilight and Flame, had decided to go and look for Silver.

They walked into the war room, and decided to ask Sky Breeze if he had seen Silver anywhere, as they walked up to him, he noticed and turned to face them, "excuse us for interrupting, but we were wondering if you have seen Silver anywhere?" Twilight asked, with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Sky Breeze just sighed, and looked at them, "I believe he is in the training room, but I wouldn't disturb him, he needs to be alone, but if you must" he said before he turned back to the table with the map.

They both looked at each other, and turned, for the door.

(Later…)

After what seemed like an hour, of wondering around, they had finally found the training room; they both sighed and looked at each other, and opened the door.

When they walked in, they saw a large room, full of training equipment, but it wasn't a big, as the one at the sanctuary, shortly after entering they saw a pony they knew all too well, throwing knives at targets on the other side of the room, and whenever they hit, they never seemed to hit the center, causing an annoyed sigh, from the pony throwing them.

They decided to go and talk to him, as they stepped forward they accidently stepped on a creaky floor board, he stopped throwing knives, and turned around quickly, knife at the ready, and an angry look on his face, when he saw it was just them, he quickly calmed down, and put the knife on the table.

"Oh, it's just you two" he said turning back to the targets and grabbing another knife, and threw it, again not hitting it in the center, he sighed and turned around to face them, "what are you doing here, alone?" Flame asked stepping forward a few feet, Silver gave the best smile he could, which wasn't much.

"I'm just practicing, keep my skills sharp, plus it helps…keep my mind off things" he said as he turned back to the table, and picked up a knife, and examined, moving his eyes up and down across the blade, they all stood there in silence, until Twilight spoke up.

"Silver, we never got to say how sorry we are, we both know you loved her" she said stepping up next to her husband, Silver put the blade down, with a sigh, and turned back to them.

"Yes well, thank you for your concern, but I'm fine, really I am" he said with a reassuring smile, but they didn't buy it, "how is Comet, handling it?" Flame asked, Silver's smile disappeared, and he looked away for a minute, but turned his attention back to them.

"I haven't seen him all day, but I believe he is with his new friend Meadow Dawn, he's a strong young unicorn, and he'll be fine" he said, and they stay there, silent, before Twilight was about to speak again, but not before the door burst open, and in came one of the guards.

He stopped in front of Silver and took a bow, "sorry to interrupt you my lord, but we have a problem, your uncle needs to speak to you, in the medical wing, he says it's very urgent" the guard said, Silver sighed and looked over at Twilight and Flame, who had confused looks on their faces, he motioned for them to follow him, and they walked out of the room.

(Outpost 39, main corridor)

Meadow Dawn was wondering around, the corridor, she hadn't seen Comet for a while, and she wanted to make sure he was okay, ever since Dark Star had found out, she had been hanging around him more and more, he couldn't help but tease her, about her liking him, much to her disapproval.

Not that she could deny it, to her, Comet was strong, brave, and very handsome, deep down, she really did like him, but in a different way, one that she couldn't understand, whenever she was around him, she just felt safe and happy, and she couldn't understand why, was she falling for him, she couldn't help but ask herself that.

So she continued walking through the corridor, until she gave up and decided to ask a guard, "excuse me sir, but can you tell me, where Comet might be?" she asked, the guard turned to her, with a smile, and pointed his hoof down the hall.

"Lord Comet, is in his quarters, it's down that hall, and to the left, would you like me to escort you" he asked, Meadow smiled, and nodded, "please follow me" he said as he turned and walked down the hall, she smiled and followed him.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, the guard stopped in front of a large door, he turned to her, "please if you need anything else, just ask" he said before he walked off, Meadow smiled and turned to the door, she tried to listen for anything on the other side of the door, but heard nothing.

She raised her hoof, and knocked on the door, at first she heard nothing until, she heard a voice on the other side, "who is it?" it asked, she recognized it as Comet's, "hey comet it's me, Meadow Dawn" she said, and shortly after, she heard the sound of hooves, approaching the door, and it quickly opened, and Comet stepped out, his mane was still messed up, and it looked like he had just gotten out of bed, she couldn't help but giggle.

He looked up, and brought his hoof up, and straightened his mane out, he too couldn't help but smile, "what are you doing here?" he asked, trying not to sound rude, she smiled and looked at him, "well, I just wanted to talk" she said in an honest tone, but comet could tell she had different intentions.

He just smiled, and moved out of the way, and motioned for her to step in, "please come in" he said, she smiled, and walked past him.

When they stepped in, he closed the door, and walked up to her, as she looked around, "yeah, this is my room, more or less, it's not as big as the one back home, but it's still good enough" he said walking over to her.

She smiled, and looked over to him, "so where were you today, I'm sure your dad is looking for you" she said, as he walked past her, and sat on the edge of his bed, with a sad look on his face, and she realized what he was thinking about, she frowned and walked over to him, she saw a single tear fall from his eye.

"Comet, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" she said before he interrupted her, "it was my fault," he said looking up at her, she had a confused look on her face, so he continued, "it's my fault…my mom's dead and it's my fault" he said as more tears began to form in his eyes, and fell to the floor beneath him.

Meadow couldn't stand to see him like this, she walked over to him, and she hopped on to the bed and sat next to him, she placed a hoof on his shoulder, "no, it wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could have done" she said trying to comfort him, he shook his head, and turned to her, "yes it was, I could have protected her, she died because of me" he said, as he turned away, and buried his head in his hooves.

She sighed and watched as he cried, it was a terrible thing for a son to lose their mother, Meadow did what she could to comfort him, "listen Comet, I may have not known her very well, but she sacrificed herself to save you, and that was her choice, you can't beat yourself up, for something that wasn't you fault" she said, comet stopped crying, and looked up at her, she smiled down at him.

They stared into each other's eyes, for a while, Comet looked into her light blue eyes, it seemed to make him feel better, whenever he was with her, he felt different, like nothing he had felt before, being the son of the Grand Master, there was always mares hitting on him, but he paid no attention to them, but Meadow was different, there was something about her, something he couldn't explain yet, when he was with her, he felt like he could be himself.

They stayed like that, for a few minutes, as they stared into each other's eyes, it took a few minutes for them to realize, that their faces were coming closer and closer together, their lips were only inches apart, they both closed their eyes, and leaned in closer, in a matter of seconds, their lips touched.

They both blushed heavily, as they kissed, both of them had never kissed before, not even Comet, who could have any mare he wanted in the order, but he waited till he found the right one, and right now, he believed he did.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an hour, neither of them wanting it to stop, but in truth it was only a few minutes, they separated and looked into each other's eyes again, Comet was the first to speak, "wow…" he said, looking into her eyes, she just smiled and giggled, they sat there before Comet pulled her into a hug, and whispered into her ear, "thanks Meadow, for the talk, it really helped" he said as he let go, she smiled again, "anytime" she said, they sat there like that for a few seconds before the door opened, and the guard from earlier, stepped in with a panicked look on his face.

"lord Comet, your father requests your presence in the war room" he said, Comet sighed, and looked from Meadow to the guard, "alright thank you, I'll be right out" he said, and the guard left, he turned back to her, with a disappointed look on his face, she shared his disappointment.

"well, I guess we should go" he said as he made his way to get off the bed, but was stopped by Meadow Dawn, he turned back to her, she smiled, and landed over and planted a kiss on his cheek, he blushed again, and raised his hoof to his cheek, Meadow smiled, and made her way to the door without another word, he smiled to himself and left, making his way to the war room.

(Outpost 39, courtyard)

Dark Star, was on his way to the training room, to get in some practice, he hadn't trained in a couple of days, so he decided to do so.

Even though he hadn't known Silver very well, he honored the passing of his wife by attending the funeral, although he dint want to say it to him, he knew how silver felt, he knew what it was like to lose a loved one, especially one as close as a wife, or in Dark Star's case, his mare friend, Rose.

He remembered the day she died, as if it was yesterday, it was also then, that he discovered that she was pregnant, he would have been a father, if it wasn't for the Prophet and Rage, the very mention of those two ponies sent his anger rising, after discovering that Rage was a traitor, he banished him, with him out of the way, all he had to worry about was the prophet.

By this time he had turned the corner, and was almost to the training room, the very thought of Rose, brought tears to his eyes, but it he also remembered his promise to her, "I will kill the Prophet, if it's the last thing I do" he said quietly to himself.

Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice a familiar mare, walking towards him, apparently she was lost in thought to, cause shortly after, they collided with each other, knocking both of them to the ground, dark star shook his head, and looked up, and saw a familiar, orange mare, with a cowboy hat on, he instantly recognized her, as one of Flame's friends.

He pushed himself off the ground, and walked over to her, "hey why don't you watch-" she stopped when she saw who it was that she crashed into, he reached down, and helped her up, the entire time, she was blushing.

"oh it's you" she said, rubbing her head in embarrassment, he chuckled and looked at her, he remembered the day he saw her, it was after he met up with Flame again, he introduced himself to her, when she returned to camp.

"Yeah, are you okay?" he asked, with concern in his voice, she smiled, "yeah, I was just going for a walk" she said, Dark Star smiled, "what about you?" she asked, "oh, I was just on my way to the training room" he said with a smile, one that she returned.

"well, would you like to accompany me, on a walk" she said, he smiled, he did want to train, but at the moment a walk sounded much more appealing, he turned to her, "of course, Miss Applejack" he said, she blushed at such a formal term, but they soon started to walk together.

Applejack had met him before, the night she returned from the shrine, he introduced himself, and from that moment forward, she felt her heart flutter whenever she was around him, but there was something about him, that she thought he was hiding, and she was determined to find out what it was.

By now they had, reached the courtyard, the sun was still high in the sky, they just walked together in silence, enjoying each other's company, until AJ decided to break the silence.

"So Dark Star, do you have a special somepony in your life" she asked, looking over at him, his smile immediately disappeared, she feared that she might have offended him in some way, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offended you or anything" she said as they stopped, he walked in front of her, with a sad look on his face.

"No…it's not that" he said as he turned back to her, and walked in front of her, "to answer your question…yes I did, but she was killed, by one of my own team members" he said, with a sad expression in his eyes, Applejack saw the sadness in his eyes, although she didn't know what it felt like to lose somepony close to you, she understood his pain.

"I'm sorry, ah didn't mean to bring back any painful memories" she said, lowering her head, and taking off her hat, he just looked over at her and smiled, "no…it wasn't your fault, it was some time ago, but I promised her I would avenge her death" he said with a sad look in his eye.

They both stayed silent, for a few minutes, before he spoke up, "well, shall we continues our little walk" he said, extending his hoof out, with a smile, she smiled back and took his hoof, the two then walked together, chatting and telling stories, unknowingly being watched from the other side of the courtyard, by Night Shadow and Beltway.

Night Shadow, chuckled to himself, as he watched them walk away, "well, it's about time, he deserves to be happy, I just hope he can move on" he said, and glanced over at the unicorn, who only smiled_, "your right, him of all ponies deserves a nice quiet life, after all he's been through"_ Night Shadow heard his friend' voice say in his head, and when he did, Night Shadow frowned.

"But unfortunately, he won't rest until, the Prophet is dead" he said before he turned and waked back inside, Beltway took one last look at the two before he turned and followed his friend.

(Outpost 39, medical wing)

After hearing of the news from his uncle, Silver and his friends made their way to the medical wing, as quickly as they could, when they arrived, Silver saw his uncle, standing in front of a bed, with a pony in a guards uniform, sitting on the edge.

Just then, Sky Breeze turned around, and saw Silver walking up to him, he turned around with a worried look on his face.

"What is it uncle, what's the problem?" he asked, but he got o answer, Sky Breeze brought him in front and walked him over to the bed, "ask him" he said, Silver turned his attention back to the guard sitting on the bed, as a nurse wrapped a bandage around his waist.

"What is it?" he asked the guard, the guard looked up, with a sad look in his eyes, "I'm sorry sir, but I was too late" he said, leaving Silver confused, "wait a minute, start from the beginning" he said, the guard sighed and turned his body.

" I was with my patrol group, a few miles out, when we noticed a fire in the distance, so we decided to investigate, and what we found, wasn't what we hoped" he said, leaving the rest of the room, wanting him to finish.

"We found an enemy camp, we believed it was the same one, that attacked outpost 27, but they were much bigger, and after managing to sneak our way in, we overheard some guards taking about, an invasion plan, we tried to listen in closer, and we found out that they plan on attacking here sir" he said, and when he did, Silver's eyes grew wide.

"yes go on" Silver said trying to get him to finish, the guard sighed heavily, but continued, "unfortunately, we were spotted, and the group was captured, but not before they gave me a chance to escape, I didn't want to leave them, but they told me I had to go and warn everpony, so that's what I did, I ran the entire time, until got here, I'm sorry sir, I couldn't save them"

He said as he started to cry, Silver sighed, "did you happen to hear when?" he said, the guard looked up, "yes sir, they said later tonight" he said, before he was instructed to lay down, by the nurse, "thank you, rest now soldier, you've done well" Silver said as he walked away, and up to the colonel.

"Sir, what are your orders" he said, Silver stopped and looked at him, "colonel, how many soldiers are here?" he said, the colonel, though for a moment, and looked back at Silver, "about one hundred soldiers, sir" he said, Silver sighed, "what is the status on the air ship" he said, the colonel smiled, "it's already to launch sir" he said proudly.

Silver's face turned serious, as he looked over, at the colonel, "okay here's what we are doing, have the air ship ready for launch, we are getting out of here, all of us, colonel give the order for evacuation, we're leaving this place, if that army reaches here, were all doomed, if it's as large as the guard says, we won't stand a chance" he said as he walked out the door, leaving a very confused colonel, but he shook it off and walked out the door.

Twilight and Flame, who had remained quiet the entire time, looked at each other with worried expressions, but they just sighed and walked out of the room.

(Later that day…)

After Silver had given the order, the entire outpost was swarming with soldiers going back and forth. Silver ordered for all personnel to abandon their posts, everything was packed up from food to ammo, and clothing to weapons.

All of them scrambling to escape before the enemy arrives, but having been trained for emergencies like this, the air ship was ready to go, and after everpony was onboard, Silver gave the order for takeoff, in order, to keep them of their trail, Silver ordered for the outpost to be destroyed, every outpost was built with an emergency self-destruct system.

"captain get us up in the air" Silver said as he walked into the main flight deck, the captain nodded, and leaned over to the intercom, "this is your captain speaking, all engines to maximum power" he said before, letting go of the button, he turned to the colonel, "how long till detonation?" he said, the colonel walked over to the computer, as the engines roared to life, and the ship began to move forward and up.

"about 2 minutes sir" he said, as the ship rose higher in the air, Twilight and her friends, ran to the windows and watched the abandoned outpost below, suddenly bright lights filled the sky, as the base light up on fire, the explosion almost reaching the ship, but they escaped it's blast, all they could do was watch, as the base burned.

Twilight sighed, and looked up at Flame, who shared her feelings, they walked away from the windows, and back to the center of the room.

(Outside outpost 39)

The general, watched as the outpost burned, he brought out his spyglass, and looked at the burning structure, he then turned his attention to the sky, as he saw the air ship, slowly disappear over the horizon.

He was left in charge after Night Wing, returned to Canterlot, he was Shadow Blaze's most trusted general, he brought it away from his eye, with an angry look on his face, he bent the spyglass, until it broke in two, he threw it to the side, "what should we do sir?" one of the soldiers asked, he just turned around.

"All we can do is return to Canterlot, and wait for out orders" he said with an angry look in his eyes, as he walked past them, the others simply followed him.

**A/N: well, there you have it, this story is slowly coming to the end, come back next time to find out what happens next.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: well, we are coming closer and closer to the end of part 3; I hoped you have enjoyed this story, as much as I did writing it.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 13: the shrine of laughter**

It had been over a day since our friends had left the outpost, narrowly evading another attack from Shadow's army, but now they had a chance to rest, their current destination, was the shrine of laughter, which was built on a cliff, by the sea.

While the others had gone below deck to get some rest, Silver was up in the bridge, waiting for them to arrive, they were close now, very close.

"Captain, how far are we?" he said, the captain turned around with a happy look on his face, "we are less than an hour away, sir" he said, with a grin, Silver just sighed, and right as he did the door opened and in came Twilight and all her friends, Silver turned and walked up to them.

"I hope you are ready, Pinkie" he said, Twilight and her friends all turned to the hyper active pony, who didn't seem afraid or nervous at all, "oh don't worry, I'm ready" she said, trying to sound brave, but deep down, even she was getting nervous, it was then that the captain walked up behind Silver.

"my lord, we are approaching our destination" he said, Silver smiled and turned , he walked away from them and up to the window, the others quickly followed after them, they all peered out the window, all they saw was a small field, and the large cliff that lead straight down into the ocean, which none of them have seen before.

"captain, land us down there" Silver said, pointing to a flat area, the captain turned to the others, they nodded, and shortly after, they all felt the ship slowly begin to descend, they all remained silent, until they felt the ship shake, they knew it had landed safely.

Silver turned back to twilight and her friends, "come, we must go" he said, looking at Pinkie Pie, who was now, starting to get nervous, they hesitated for a moment, but quickly followed him out.

When the large ramp opened they all slowly walked out, the smell of the ocean, quickly flooded their nostrils, as they walked off the ramp, Silver stepped forward, and took a deep breath, he loved the feeling of the wind blowing through his mane, Twilight and her friends, walked up to him, he sighed sadly, but didn't turn to face them.

"Sapphire and I came here, on our anniversary, some years ago, it was always so peaceful, the perfect place to relax" he said, with a sad look in his eyes, he turned back to them, with a calm expression.

"Come, the entrance is at the edge of the cliff" he said, as he walked off, the others exchanged worried glances, but after all this time they had learned to trust him, and so the quickly followed after him.

It took a few minutes, before they reached the edge of the cliff, Silver leaned over and looked down, it was indeed, a long way down, he watched as the waves crashed against the bottom of the cliff, he turned away and walked back to the others, who were all looking around.

"wait, please don't tell me, we have to climb down the cliff" Flame said in annoyed tone, one that Silver couldn't help but laugh at, but instead of answering his question, he began scraping his hoof across the ground, in different places, he looked up and saw the confused faces of his friends.

He smiled, and set his hoof down, on the ground, he began to feel the surface with his hoof, until he felt a difference, in it, he smiled and saw a small piece of rock sticking out of the ground, he smiled as he placed his hoof on it, and pressed down, the rock slid down, and again just as the last time, they heard a large clicking sound, and suddenly a portion of the ground began to shake.

Soon after a piece of the ground, began to slid out of the way, revealing a staircase, that lead down, into the ground, they all looked up at Silver, who had a smile on his face, he just motioned for them to step down, they hesitated at first but, one by one, they all began walking down the narrow staircase.

They all remained silent, as they made their way through the narrow halls; this one was just like the others so, they knew where to go.

Soon after they came across a large door, and before they could do anything, the door opened slowly, making a loud creaking sound, and when it was open enough, they all walked into the large room, slowly spreading out, and just as they had entered the door slowly began to close, trapping them inside, by now they had gotten used to it.

Just like the other times, the torches began to light themselves, until the room was filled with light, they all turned their attention to the other side of the room, where the large statue was standing, they all walked up to it.

From what they could tell, it was a female Pegasus, standing proudly, with the necklace hanging around her neck, they stopped a few feet in front of it, Silver looked over at Pinkie Pie, who just stared at the statue, he caught her attention by motioning, for her to approach it.

She slowly walked up to it, instead of her usual bouncing, when she was in front of it, she stood under its shadow and took a respectful bow, sweat began to fall from her forehead, but she kept her cool, until a loud feminine voice filled the room, "speak thy name and intention, young one" it said, Pinkie inhaled heavily, and spoke up.

"My name is Pinkie Pie, I am the element of laughter, and I have come to learn in the ways of harmony" she said with confidence, but really she grew more and more nervous, for a few seconds the room fell completely silent, they all began to think she had done it wrong, but they got their answer when again, like the last few times, the room filled with light, making them all cover their eyes.

When it stopped, they turned back, but saw no sign of the pink party pony, Silver was the first to react, he sighed and turned and began walking out.

"What do we do now?" Twilight asked, Silver stopped, but didn't turn around, "like I've said before, all we can do is wait, we shall make camp, outside the air ship" he said before he walked out the door, which had been opened.

Knowing he was right, they didn't argue, all they did was follow him out.

(Canterlot castle, throne room)

Shadow stood by the large windows, staring out at the setting sun, he was alone in the room, the sun being the only source of light, he just stared out at the land with a solemn look on his face, every time the guardians made it to another shrine, and activated it, he could feel their power growing, they had one last shrine to go, it was his only chance to stop them.

He lost his train of thought when the door on the other side of the room opened, Shadow turned around, and saw his apprentice walking in, followed by the General, he faked a smile and walked up to them.

"ah general, your back" he said as he walked up the stairs to the, and sat on the throne, both the General and Night Wing, took a respectful bow, shortly after, the General spoke up, "my lord, you summoned me, is something wrong" he said, with the slightest hint of fear in his voice, it was then that Shadow's smile disappeared.

He looked down at the General, with a serious look on his face, suddenly the door flew open again, and in walked the Prophet and Rage, being escorted by a group of guards, but Shadow kept his gaze on the general, and barely noticed their entrance.

"actually yes there is, it seems you again failed to capture the elements, and bring them to me, a job like this shouldn't have been very hard for you" he said, the General could feel sweat running down his head, but he did his best to maintain his composure, "with all due respect, they are very well trained, they somehow found out about our plans, and escaped before we could strike, but it won't happen again" he said trying to sound brave, but inside the fear was getting to him.

A sinister smile appeared on Shadow's face, "correct, it won't happen again" he said, as his horn started to glow, suddenly the General couldn't move his body, and he couldn't breathe, he felt himself being lifted up in the air, Night Wing and the others only watched as, the General was brought up to the throne, in front of Shadow, the General began grabbing his neck, trying to breath, Shadow's smile disappeared.

"what good are you to me, if you can't even catch, a couple of foals" he said as his magical grip, tightened, the General could feel his lungs screaming for air, he tried to speak, but could only get out a few words, "please…ju-just give me an-another chance, I-I won't fail you" he said, Shadow just stared him in the eyes, he could see the fear, it was the one thing he loved.

Shadow thought about it for a moment, and when he made up his mind, he looked back at the General, who was struggling to breathe, Shadow's expression changed from serious to angry, as his eyes seemed to change color, the generals eyes widened, "no!" he said, suddenly the heard the sound of a bone snapping, as the General's head was twisted to the side, his body fell limp, as his hooves dangled at his sides.

Shadow sighed, and released his magical grip, the body fell to the stairs, and slowly rolled to the bottom, the Prophet and Rage, were sure they heard the sound of bones crunching, as it hit the bottom step, causing all the guards to take a few steps back.

Shadow sighed again, and got up; he slowly walked down the stairs, until he stopped near the bottom, he glanced at the body, "get rid of that" he said, and the guards came and dragged the body away with their magic.

Shadow continued walking until he passed the Prophet and Rage, he stopped and glanced over to the, and saw the fear in their eyes, he suddenly smiled, and faced them, "it seems I am in need of a new leader for my army, congratulations, you two have just been promoted…it seems you were useful after all" he said before he turned around, and walked back over to the windows.

The rest of them took their leave, Rage and the Prophet had shocked expressions on their faces, they shook it off and slowly walked out of the room.

Shadow looked out as the sun set behind the mountains, he knew that the time was drawing nearer, the final fight was on the horizon, and he was more than prepared for it.

**A/N: okay this chapter was shorter than intended, but I plan on making that up, next time, see you then.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: well, this is one of the last chapters, for this part, hope you all enjoy.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 14: the return home**

It had been a day, since Twilight and her friends, had reached the shrine of laughter, surprisingly though Pinkie, had returned later that same day, much to their surprise, Silver had let them rest for the day, but they needed to start traveling again the next day, the new destination, was the shrine of generosity, hidden underneath PonyVille.

Silver was asleep in his tent, he had a rough night, he was up very late planning their next move, and the fact that he was still haunted by the memories of his wife, didn't help him.

Silver opened his eyes slowly, he let his eyes adjust to the brightness, of the early morning sun, as it shined through the tent, he slowly got up, and looked around, and he turned to his side, but saw nopony beside him, the other side of the bed was vacant.

He sighed sadly and got out of bed, he slowly walked over to his desk, he looked up at the mirror, and saw his messy mane, he chuckled lightly, as he brought his hoof up, and brushed it along his mane, straightening it out, and after it looked like it normally did, he smiled and walked out of the tent.

He saw that most ponies still weren't awake, as was usual, so he decided to make his rounds around camp, which was more lonely than usual, because he almost always did it with Sapphire.

As he walked toward the center of camp, he saw his son, coming out of his tent, and making his way to the center as well, so he decided to join him.

As Comet took a seat at the table, one of the guards arrived with a plate of food, and placed it in front of him, and comet started to eat, Silver smiled and walked up to him, "good morning Comet" he said, unfortunately Comet didn't expect this, he jumped up and turned around, his hoof on his chest, clearly he wasn't expecting that, but Silver couldn't help but smile.

"Whoa…oh good morning dad, don't do that" he said, as he calmed down, Silver laughed as he took a seat with his son, and just like usual another guard appeared with a plate of food, ad placed it in front of him.

He took a few bites, and turned to his son, he watched as he levitated a glass, up to his lips, "so Comet, I heard you spent some time with, Miss Meadow Dawn" he said, Comet nearly spit out the liquid, but he stopped himself, and swallowed it, at first he tried to deny it, "uh…I don't understand what you mean, dad" he said trying to sound confident, but Silver saw right through him.

Comet smiled nervously, and turned back to his food, Silver just chuckled, "Comet, it's okay, I'm not mad, I know you like her, I don't have a problem with that, she a nice mare, but if you want my advice, I suggest you make a move and fast" he said with smile, again Comet nearly choked again, but he turned to his dad, with a nervous laugh.

"What makes you think that I like her" he said, rubbing the back of his head, Silver just smiled, "come on son, I've seen the way you look at her" he said, Comet smiled nervously, "is it that obvious?" he said, Silver just nodded his head.

Silver then looked behind and saw Meadow Dawn herself, walking up to the table, he leaned in closer to his son, "there she is now, go on, sit with her" he said, with a confident smile, Comet turned around, and saw her, he smiled and looked back at his dad, he smiled, "thanks dad" he said before he used his magic to pick up his plate, he then walked over to her.

Silver smiled, as he watched them talk, although he couldn't hear them, he had a pretty good idea, he watched as they sat down together, and began talking, it reminded him so much, about how he was like at a younger age, with Sapphire, he wanted nothing more than for his son and daughter to be happy.

As he watched them talk, he didn't notice Twilight and Flame, walking up to the table behind him, "you know, they make a really cute couple" he heard a familiar lavender unicorn say, he smiled and turned around, "yeah, he reminds me so much of Sapphire and I, when we were younger" he said, as he turned back and took another bite of his meal.

Twilight and Flame smiled as they took a seat next to him, Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, "I'm sure, Sapphire would be proud of him…and you" she said with a sincere voice, he looked at her and smiled.

Over time all the other began to wake up, and come to eat their breakfast, so the all sat their talking amongst themselves, "so Flame, I never got the chance to ask, but how long have you and Twilight been married?" Dark Star asked from across the table, Flame smiled and looked at Twilight, who only smiled back, he chuckled and turned back to his friend.

"Well, we've been married about three months now, I believe" he said, Twilight nodded and nuzzled him, "I'm still jealous of you two" Shining Armor said, with a jealous look in his eyes, Flame simply laughed, and Cadence over at him, "what are you talking about, your wedding was a national event, ours wasn't anything special" he said, Shining Armor sighed.

"yeah, but we had to stop an entire invasion, before we got married" he said, with an irritated tone, causing everpony to laugh, even Cadence, who nuzzled up against her husband, Flame looked over at Silver, "what about you Silver, was your wedding crazy, in any way?" he asked, Silver smiled, "well you could say that, being the Grand Master and all, they treated it like a royal wedding" he said, again causing everpony around the table to laugh.

Then Sky Breeze spoke up, "if you thought that was crazy, you should have been there for your fathers wedding Silver, I was his best stallion, and I remember, that he forgot where he put the ring, now that was a crazy wedding" he said laughing, a shocked look on Silver's face, but he soon started laughing, with the others.

Soon after everpony finished eating, they all went their separate ways, and began to pack up camp, as everything was packed up, Twilight and Flame had decided to go and ask Silver where they were headed.

They found him supervising the loading, so they walked up to him, "hey Silver, where exactly are we going again?" Flame asked, as they walked up behind him, he sighed, and turned to face them, "like I said before, the final shrine is located beneath PonyVille, or as I should say what's left of it, remember PonyVille was attacked, our first priority will be to find any survivors" he said, Twilight and Flame exchanged worried glances.

"Come, the ship is almost ready for departure, we need to leave as soon as possible" he said as he made his way to the ramp, which led into the large ship.

As the door opened, they all walked in, and saw the other ponies sitting at their stations, preparing the ship for launch, Silver walked up to where the captain was standing, "how is everything going, captain?" Silver asked, the captain turned to him with a smile, "the ship is ready for launch, on your command sir" he said, Silver turned to him, "give the order" he said, the captain nodded, and walked over to the intercom.

Silver turned back to the others, "it's about a day's journey, I suggest you rest up as much as you can" he said, before he turned back and walked up next to the captain, suddenly the ship began to shake, they all knew that they were rising into the air, they all looked at each other, they turned around and headed below deck, to rest up.

(The next day…)

After getting good night sleep, all the other were waken up, by the guards, telling them to get to the main flight deck.

When they arrived, they all saw Silver with a sad expression on his face, they were all about to ask what was wrong, but before they did, he motioned for them to, go to the window, they all walked over to it, what they saw, shocked them all beyond belief.

In front of them lay the once peaceful town of PonyVille, only now it was nothing but a ruin, they saw buildings destroyed, the streets completely abandoned, no sign of life anywhere, but the strangest part, was that they saw no bodies anywhere, almost as if they had been cleaned up.

They all looked out in the distance, and saw Sweet Apple Acres, no longer filled with apple trees, it was now nothing but a barren waste land, and Twilight felt tears spill down her cheeks as she looked at the devastation before her, but she felt something she never thought she would feel.

Hate, she hated Shadow Blaze, for what he had done, killing some many innocent ponies, now she wanted to stop him more than ever, put an end to his cruelty.

"captain, land us right outside the town" Silver aid pointing to a specific spot, and so the captain gave the orders, and soon after they all landed, Silver decided to send out a search party, led by himself, he took all of Twilight's friends and a hoofull of guards with him.

After they had all exited the ship, and gather outside, Silver turned to all of them, "okay, everpony stay close, we don't know if this place is really abandoned, but keep a sharp eye out for survivors, alright let's go" he said as he started walking, quickly followed by the others.

Seeing the destruction up close, was even worse than seeing it from above, they all silently walked through the streets, observing the damage, yet they still found no trace of bodies, the streets were completely empty.

By that time they had crossed into town square, and still found nothing, Silver sighed sadly, and turned to face all of them, "I'm sorry to say this, but this place is empty, there is nopony here" he said, with a sad expression, he was about to give the order for everpony to return to the ship, when he heard the sound of an arrow being pulled back on a crossbow.

He turned around sharply, and saw another pony he didn't recognize, pointing a crossbow at him, "oh I don't think so" he said, as he brought his hoof up to his mouth, and whistled, suddenly out of nowhere other ponies began to appear and surround them, all pointing crossbows at them, they were all forced into a circle as they were surrounded.

Silver got his knife ready, as did the other soldiers, while Twilight ad her friends, were pushed into the middle, "now, who are you, and what do you want" the leader said, Silver relaxed, and let go of his knife, and calmed down, "I am Grand Master Silver Heart, leader of the Guardians, we are here to help you, are you survivors?" he asked, the leader still had his crossbow ready, but answered the question.

"Yeah, we are, what is it to you" he said, and after he did, he looked behind him, and saw a familiar pony; he began to lower his crossbow, leaving a surprised look on Silver face.

"Captain Shining Armor, is that you?" he said, Silver turned around, and saw Shining Armor, looking at him, Shining Armor stepped forward, "yes, and who are you?" he said, the leader then put the crossbow away, and reached up and take off his helmet, revealing a pony that Shining Armor, knew all too well.

"Lieutenant, is that you?" Shining Armor asked, by this time all of the ponies in the center had lowered their weapons, but the others didn't, Shining Armor walked up to him, "yes sir" the lieutenant said, saluting him, "at ease soldier, now do you mind having your friends relax" he said, with a smile, the lieutenant, looked at the others, "stand down soldiers, their friendly" he yelled, the other soldiers immediately lowered their weapons.

The lieutenant, immediately turned back to shining armor, "sorry about that sir, we thought you were more of them" he said, Shining Armor didn't notice that comment, "never mind that, are you the only ones who survived?" he asked, the lieutenant shook his head, "no sir, there are others, we gathered everpony, in the town hall, it was one of the very few buildings, that stayed intact, after the attack" he said with a smile, now it was Silver's turn to ask questions.

He walked up beside Shining Armor, "how many more of you are there?" he asked, the lieutenant looked at him, with a straight face, "more than you think, I can take you there if you want" he said, in an inviting tone, they both nodded, the lieutenant, looked at the other soldiers, "alright everpony, we are heading back to the others, let's move out!" he said and he turned and walked off, quickly followed by the others, Silver turned back to Twilight and her friends, he motioned for them to follow, and so they followed the others, back to the town hall.

**A/N: well, the next chapter will probably be the last, and then that will be the end of this story, and from there it on to the finale, we are almost there.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: alright, this is the final chapter for this story, I hope you al enjoy, because the next story will be the finale.**

**The Gathering Storm: chapter 15: preparations for war**

(Canterlot castle, outside the throne room)

Night Wing had been called in by Shadow Blaze, they had received word, that the Guardians had returned, to PonyVille, and were gathering up an army, and to them it was finally time to end this little game, once and for all.

Night Wing breathed in deeply, as he pushed the doors open, and stepped inside, he looked round and saw no sign of his master, until he heard him speak, "ah Night Wing, you're here, come in we need to talk" he said in a calm voice.

Night wing, walked in and gave a respectful bow, he looked up and saw his master staring out of the window, "your army is nearly ready, my master" he said as he looked up, and saw Shadow Blaze staring out the window; Shadow sighed, but still didn't turn around.

"all those years of imprisonment, have made me lazy, I should have taken care of this myself, while it was still amusing, now it's too late" he said, as he stared out at the land, his voice still remained calm, Night Wing stood up, "you have nothing to fear, my lord" he said, Shadow glanced back at him, "I know what you're thinking, Night Wing, you're thinking that you will stop them in PonyVille, but they will come for me, and that's when you will stop it, right there" he said, looking forward as if he was hypnotized.

"But sir, don't you want them to be stopped, they are the last thing between you, and your revenge" he said, with a slightly confused look on his face, Shadow didn't need to turn around to see that he was confused, "I don't know if you're trying to protect me, or replace me" he said as he finally turned around, and walked past him, and towards the throne.

"I would never-" he said before he was stopped by Shadow Blaze shooting him a look, silencing him, "never what?, your just about running the show right now, the only difference is, the risk is still on me" he said with an angry look in his eyes, one that made Night Wing uneasy.

"Come on Night Wing, eventually a pony must move on from his master, what do you say, you want to become leader?" he said, as he turned to face him, standing in a calm position.

The room fell silent, as Shadow stared down, at his apprentice, at first Night Wing, didn't notice, but he felt his hoof, come up and grab his knife, his expression changed to an angry on as his grip tightened, Shadow just stared at him, wanting him to make a move, but he still remained calm.

Night Wing knew he wouldn't win that fight, he looked down, as he loosened his grip, and he let go, and placed his hoof down on the ground, and he sighed and looked away for a brief second.

"You know there's a part of me, that hopes, that they will get through the guards, and finally make their way to me, so I will be the only one left for them to fight" he said as he began making his way up to the throne, the entire time, Night Wing remained silent, "it's funny, before all of this, back when I served under the princess's as their general, I always dreamed of a warrior's death, on the battlefield, that moment when I am still craving life" he said as he sat down, Night Wing found the strength to speak, "they won't get past the guards, I have our most highly trained soldiers, guarding the entrance to the castle" he said, with a nervous tone.

Shadow sighed, and looked down at him, "we'll see, either way you're staying with me" he said, Shadow said, Night Wing hesitated at first, but he just bowed, and slowly made his way out of the room, the doors slowly closing behind him.

(PonyVille, town square)

After again meeting up with the Lieutenant, Silver and his friends made their way to the town square, where all the survivors had remained since the attack.

When they came up to it, the lieutenant pushed the door open, he motioned for them to walk in, when they stepped in, they were all very surprised, the interior of the building was still well intact, the only thing that was different, was a massive hole up in the roof, and burn marks across the walls, they instantly realized that the building was at one point on fire.

They also saw many other ponies, some that they recognized, and others that were dressed in the royal guard armor, many ponies sitting around in groups talking amongst each other, stopped when they saw them entering, as they made their way to the center of the room, they saw a large table with maps on it.

The lieutenant turned to Shining Armor and Silver, "the commander is over there" he said pointing at an older stallion, leaning over the table, and talking to other ponies, dressed in the royal guard's uniform.

They looked at each other and slowly made their way over there, all the other could do was wait, "Applejack!" they heard a younger voice call out, all of them, including the pony in mention, turned and saw a young filly running towards them, Applejack's eyes filled with tears of joy, as she ran to the young filly, when they met, Applejack pulled the younger one into a hug, "oh Apple Bloom, I'm so glad you're safe" she said as they both cried, after they let go, the younger one took her sisters hoof, and pulled her away from the others, they believed she was taking her to see the rest of her family.

Dark Star leaned over to Flame, and whispered in his ear, "is that her daughter or something?" he asked, Flame began laughing, as well as the others, making Dark Star embarrassed, Flame put a hoof on his shoulder, "oh don't you worry Dark Star, that's only her little sister, would you call your mom by her first name, seriously" he said as he chuckled, just then they heard another voice.

"Rarity!" they heard another, younger voice call out, again all of them turned, including Rarity, and saw another younger filly, with a white coat, running towards them, just like Applejack, Rarity felt tears of joy, stream from her eyes, "oh Sweetie Bell" she said as she ran forward, and embraced the younger filly, as the others watched from a far, they couldn't help but feel happy for their friends.

Twilight also felt tears of joy, come from her eyes, as she reached up and wiped them away, she turned to the rest of her friends, they all nodded, knowing what she meant, and went their separate ways, in search of their family members and friends.

(Later that day…)

After few hours had passed, since their arrival, Silver had asked Twilight and her friends, to follow him to the center, all of them except Twilight and Flame refused, they would rather spend time with their families, and understanding their wishes, Silver left them alone, with their families.

Most of them had gathered around the table, with the large map in front of them, they waited patiently as Silver and Shining Armor stepped in front of them, followed by the lieutenant and the commander.

They all gathered around, and waited for Silver to speak, he cleared his throat, and looked between them and the map, "okay, what we know so far is that, Shadow probably already knows we are here, and is most likely sending his army, but what we need to focus on right now, is getting Miss Rarity to the shrine, we believe it is not far, it's right outside town" he said pointing to a spot on the map.

The other's remained silent while Silver continued, "From what we could tell, it that Shadow's army, will probably be coming from here, the forest" he said pointing, to the entrance of the forest, he sighed for a moment, "what we don't know is how many we are dealing with" he said, with a sad tone, Flame looked from the map, up at Silver.

"Well, how many, do we have now?" he asked, Silver looked up at him with a half-smile, "alone, we only have, about 150 soldiers, with us, but, here's the good news, I was informed by the lieutenant, that there are some forces at the royal guard outpost's not far from here, we can get reinforcements from there, and that might help us even the odds" he said, with a calm tone.

"Later today, we will escort, Rarity, to the shrine, and while we wait for her to return, we can contact the royal guard outpost, and ask for assistance, hopefully the will answer out call" he said with a worried tone, "come we must get outside" he said as he stood up, and walked around the table, and too the door.

After they all exited, and stepped out into the town square, they saw the sun slowly setting, "we shall make our stand here, this is where the fate of the kingdom, will be decided, we estimate, that his army will be here in three days' time, we have that long to prepare" he said as he turned around, and faced the others.

He looked at his son, "Comet, return to the ship, have everpony unload, we shall make camp, right here in town square, Meadow Dawn, Uncle, you go with him, and help supervise" he said, as he turned, to Shining Armor, and the others behind him, "you three, try to get in contact, with any royal guard outpost's in the area" he said, pointing at the three ponies dressed in royal guard outfits.

All the ponies, that were given instructions, nodded and went their separate ways, leaving only Twilight and Flame, he turned around and looked at the sky, Twilight stepped forward, with a worried look on her face.

"Silver what do we do now?" Twilight asked, as Flame stepped up beside her, and wrapped his hoof around her shoulder, Silver sighed and turned around to face them, with a serious look in his eyes, the look in his eyes was nothing like they had ever seen before.

"Now…we prepare"

**TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4**

**A/N: damn, I hate cliff hangers, don't you?, well there you have it, that is the end of part 3, I shall start work on part four as soon as possible, see you then for the grand finale.**


End file.
